My Paper Heart
by MysticFun
Summary: She has lost enough people in her life so when she meets this particular girl, she finally feels like she's connected to someone, somehow. But things in MysticFalls never stay the same for long and soon, she finds herself questioning everything she thought was the truth.Is she even human? She can't be certain of anything anymore. Except that she never meant to fall in love with her
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** First things first, I want to thank all of you for the love you've showed me so far! Since a lot of you have been asking for a multiple-chapters story, here we go...

You should know that I started to write this story last summer, so it picks up right where season 3 ends. Also, rest assured, Caroline's and Bonnie's fans- things are not always as they seem… ;)

I also want to thank **_KaterinaPetrova_** for being my amazing beta! She did a wonderful job. If it wasn't for her tough love, my words wouldn't look that good. 3

I really hope you're all going to enjoy this story as much as I enjoyed writing it and that you're going review to tell me what you think of it!

**Disclaimer:**_ I do not own _The Vampire Diaries_ or any of its characters. This is a work of fiction written for entertainment purposes, but the original characters and original storylines present in "My Paper Heart" are my own work. _

* * *

As soon as I arrived in Mystic Falls, I knew I hated it. Everything was so small, so quiet… so boring. It was like nothing compared to Chicago, where I had spent my entire life- until now.

My uncle and his wife had come back from Chile, leaving their three-year mission, Doctors Beyond Borders, to take care of me. I was supposed to spend the summer with them, organizing my move to this little town I had never heard of before. Once everything was settled, there were still three weeks before school started again. After a lot of convincing, I finally persuaded them to return to Chile. There were kids there who needed their help much more than I did. I assured them that everything would be fine and they finally came around with the idea, making me promise that if I needed anything, if I needed _them_, I would tell them right away- and they would be on the next flight to Mystic Falls.

I thought I had played my game perfectly. I didn't want them around. I couldn't deal with their overwhelming kindness. It was too much, their affection felt too inappropriate to me. But now that the movers had started piling my boxes around their empty home, my chest clenched a little. I was feeling more alone than ever, and I suddenly wished they were here, running around and asking me thousands of questions to try to make me more comfortable.

Before leaving, my aunt asked the town sheriff to come as often as she could to keep an eye on me, and to help me if I needed anything. My aunt was a member of one of the founders' families, so the sheriff agreed and had been taking her task very seriously. She came by almost every day for the first two weeks I had spent in Mystic Falls. She stayed long enough to have a cup of coffee with me and talk a little, but unfortunately for her, she was a cop. And I couldn't possibly force myself to be anything more than just polite with her. I had already seen too many cops in my life, when they came to my house to tell me that my parents had been killed.

Sheriff Forbes was constantly encouraging me to get out of the house, go shopping, mingle with the other teenagers, but I couldn't tell her that there was no point of doing shopping when the nearest mall was fifty miles away. Why would I want to leave the house? Where would I even go?

Every teenager I saw passing by my window seemed shallow, insignificant and naively happy. I knew ninety percent of them had never even met someone like me. It felt like they were living on a completely different planet and I didn't have any strength left to travel there. The global atmosphere of this town perfectly matched my lonely mood, my dark thoughts, and my desire to hide. I didn't want to change a single thing in my dreadful routine.

Until the first day of school.

It was like lightning. At first, I saw her from the back and admired her slim figure. She had long straight brown hair and was wearing a pale blue top with dark washed skinny jeans. A total plain Jane style- and yet I had instantly become curious about her. I slowed my pace when I neared her, trying to find out why my instincts made me stop for _this _girl out of a hundred new faces in the hallway.

I watched her. She was talking to a blond guy with beautiful blue eyes. They seemed like they were friends, and when he started to walk toward his class, she turned her face back to tell him goodbye before he disappeared. And she was _beautiful_.

Dark eyes with thick lashes, bow lips, and delicate features. I realized I had stopped walking and was just standing there, staring at her, when she suddenly turned her head again to look straight at me. When her determined eyes met mine, I felt a shockwave of heat crushing over me, but my body didn't seem to be able to move an inch.

Standing still in the middle of the hallway, she kept staring at me, confused. After a couple of seconds, probably realizing that I was new in town, a sudden glow of kindness flashed in her eyes, and she gave me a shy smile.

My mind barely registered any of these things, suddenly drawn instead to the sadness shining in her eyes, just behind the surface. The world around was fading away quickly. For the first time in so many months, I didn't feel alone anymore. And I couldn't really understand why. The voice in the back of my head was shouting at me to break eye contact, to move, to go to class, but I couldn't keep my eyes away from hers. She was still staring at me, but I wasn't able to decipher the emotions in her eyes anymore, too overwhelmed by the strange way I felt connected to this girl.

The sudden apparition of a pair of green eyes and fair hair broke my haze. His lips swiftly pecked hers and I immediately hated the guy. I closed my eyelids a few time quickly, trying to connect with the real world again, and rushed into the next hallway keeping my eyes on the ground. I could still hear him telling her sweet words, but at least, thanks to him, I now knew her name.

_Elena._

After two weeks, I had already joined the basketball team. I was tall, athletic and had always loved sports. It didn't take long for the high school teams to come woo me.

I was at my very first basketball practice when I saw her for the first time. Honey blond cascade of curly hair, bright smile, shining blue eyes, and a toned body clearly visible in her skimpy cheerleading uniform.

I had never really paid attention to cheerleaders before, but I found myself kind of hating them in this small town. The hierarchy in this middle-of-nowhere school was so primitive…

Popular kids ruled the school. The popular girls were, of course, all beautiful, slim _and_ cheerleaders; and were dating beautiful, muscled and popular guys who were _all_ football players. It was so cliché it made me want to puke.

Where I was from, some of the popular kids were obviously beautiful or rich, but if you had a witty spirit, a remarkable sense of humor, a badass attitude, or a talent for creativity, you could have a spot inside the cool kids' world, too.

The cheerleaders were walking around the outside of the court when a player missed the ball one of my teammates threw at her. The ball was heading directly toward the curly haired blonde girl and I jumped a little farther than I probably should have to catch the ball just a few inches away from her face. The girl immediately yelled at my teammate angrily. There was nothing nice about her tone, and her attitude was disdainful. It pissed me off.

None of the cheerleaders were supposed to be around, since we still had ten minutes of practice left. They were _especially_ not supposed to be standing right next to the court.

To make things worse, the girl she was yelling at had been really nice to me. She had introduced me to all the other girls on the team and had really encouraged me to join.

When the blonde girl had finally finished discharging her venom, she turned toward me with a bright cheeky smile, changing completely her attitude.

"Thank you!" she said in a cheerful voice. I shot her a nasty side glance and told her, "I didn't do it for you," while throwing the ball to one of my team mates. I wanted to emphasize the fact that I caught it earlier to keep the ball on my team's side.

I turned on my heels and ran toward the opposite basket, winking at the poor girl who had suffered her self-importance. I didn't know who this blonde girl was but I knew for sure that we weren't going to be friends.

Ten minutes later, one of the cheerleaders told me her name. But my teammate gave me even _more_ valuable information in the locker room. "She's Caroline Forbes. The sheriff's daughter."

_The _sheriff's_ daughter_!_ Fuck._

A month passed by before Elena invited me in her house to study for our English test together. I was really glad to finally be all alone with her but the situation was also making me freaking nervous.

About thirty minutes into our study session, there was a knock at the door. The look on Elena's face told me that whoever was interrupting had come unexpectedly.

I was cursing silently at the intrusion, hoping that it wouldn't be Caroline or her other friend Bonnie.

The cheerleader had turned out to be funny sometimes, but her desperate need for attention, her anxieties and her childish bitchiness was really getting on my nerves.

Bonnie was fine, I guess, but I immediately felt something off about her. I had spent the last couple of years learning how to recognize those people as quickly as possible and she was one of them. The judgemental kind. It instantly turned on a big red "_keep as far away as possible_" alert in my head.

"Damon," Elena said, opening the door. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, hello to you too, Elena. Your welcoming smile is always a ravishment," the boy drawled in a sarcastic tone. I rolled my eyes. I could already picture one of those muscled football players, showing up on her porch to flirt with her, desperately wanting to get into her pants.

I raised myself up, prepared to help Elena to get rid off the guy if needed.

"Come on in. I have company," I heard her say, closing the door behind him.

"Hmm and who would that be?" he asked, an amused flirtatious tone in his voice.

I was ready to answer when I saw him clearly for the first time, entering the living room. His smirk dropped instantly, just like mine. My eyes opened wide and my jaw dropped a little. I couldn't believe it, it was too surreal.

"Oh! Yeah... It's even weirder when you're both in the same room," Elena murmured, an amused smile on her lips.

Damon and I turned our heads towards her at the exact same time, a look of confusion on our faces. Weird wouldn't have been my choice of word. It was beyond weird, it was utterly shocking!

His hair was made in the _same_ dark silk as mine. It was thick and straight _just_ like mine.

His eyes were like looking in a mirror. A perfectly _identical_ icy blue. The only differences between us both were that my hair was long and my skin was more caramel than milk.

It was incredibly disturbing.

"Do you think this is funny?" Damon asked, raising his eyebrows at Elena. She tried to restrain herself, but finally let out a laugh.

"Who is she?" "Who is he?" we both asked at the same time, making Elena laugh even harder.

"Seriously, you already met right? You rehearsed together earlier to pull that stunt on me…" she chuckled, walking the few steps to go back toward the couch. "Because the resemblance is enough already, but the speaking-at-the-same-time-to-say-the-same-thing is a little bit too much!" she added in a laughing tone, turning around to look at us both. But her smile instantly dropped when she saw my face.

I hadn't said anything, but the thoughts storming inside my head were probably written all over my features. I could be his sister. _I could have a brother_. And that thought automatically reminded me that my parents were dead; that I didn't_ have_ any siblings. It reminded me I was all alone apart from an uncle somewhere in South America.

A flash of sympathy crossed her eyes.

Turning her head toward Damon and gesturing over to him, she made the introductions.

"This is Damon… Salvatore."

"As in Stefan-"

"Yes, unfortunately," Damon said, a smirk on his lips, cutting me off.

"Damon is Stefan's older brother," Elena added, shooting a nasty look at Damon.

"Oh! But… you two don't look alike at all," I stated simply.

"Someone has a good sense of observation," Damon answered in a sarcastic voice. "That's all Mother Nature gave me, so I eventually came around with the idea that he's my baby brother," he sing-songed with a cocky smile. Elena was clearly unhappy with his dry comments about her boyfriend.

"But you would totally rock that part. You could be my sister..." he added lowly, narrowing his curious eyes at me.

"Could it be… even… possible?" I heard myself ask, not really sure if I wanted the answer.

"You should ask that to your parents, honey," Damon laughed, obviously satisfied by his own sense of humour.

"Damon…" Elena warned.

"What? Oh, I get it… Daddy is indeed a lady killer, but nobody can talk about it!" Damon said in a half laughing tone, his eyes shining with mischief.

"Damon, shut up now!" Elena shouted.

"Oh come on… if a man can't joke around anymore! It's not like they're dead or anything. On the other hand, two cute teenagers, both orphans, helping each other to study their English test would be beautifully tragic. Heartbreaking," he said emphatically with a grin at the corner of his lips, a hand on his heart.

"Stop being a jerk!" Elena hit him hard in the arm, shooting him a furious look.

"Ouch! What's wrong with you? I was just…" he stopped suddenly, noticing something in Elena's eyes. He turned his head to look me intensely in the eye.

I was mute. Frozen in my spot. As soon as he said the words, my heart hurt like hell and it felt like a bucket of cold water had just been splashed on me.

The blood left his face, his brows furrowing together. He shot a quick glance at Elena again, realizing what was happening. His eyes finally landed on me. "I'm sorry," he said quietly. His jaw was clenched and his look was sad and full of pity. I had already seen that look so many times that I suddenly wanted to punch him in the face.

"Is it possible?" I asked again, in a forceful voice, anger dripping at the edges. Thankfully, he took the hint.

"Where are you from?" he asked.

"I'm from Chicago. Both of my parents… were American. My father's parents were Canadian and my grand-grand-grand _whatever_ parents on my mother's side were Latinos**,**" I answered in a quick tone.

"Then we're not related," he stated simply.

"What?" I raised my brow at him. "How can you be so sure?" I noticed Elena and Damon exchanging a quick meaningful glance. _What was that exactly?_

"Damon knows his family history pretty well. He has actually spent a lot of time doing research on his relatives. Right, Damon?" Elena asked a little too forcefully.

"Absolutely. I've been able to go back until the late 17th century. I know every single official and _non_ official," he paused to wink at me suggestively, "member of my family, if you know what I mean. So either we are related from before the 17th century, which doesn't even count as family anymore, or it's just an amazing coincidence. Sorry..."

My mind couldn't form a coherent response. I was completely overwhelmed by the situation. I was forced to admit to myself that I had felt lonelier than I thought because I was actually sad to learn that I wasn't related to a perfect stranger who seemed full of himself. I was baffled by Damon's comments, and his claim- that he knew his entire family's history over the past three centuries- seemed so unlikely that I couldn't help but feel that these two were hiding something. The incredible resemblance between Damon and I just added more fuel to the fire.

I was so deep in thought that I actually flinched when Damon suddenly added, "But actually it's pretty good news."He took a step toward me, a flirtatious smile on his lips.

"It would have been a shame to be brother and sister when we could totally rock as a couple…" he said with charm dripping from his low voice, his eyes roaming over my features.

"I think I can do better, but thank you," I shot back with a grin, finally snapping out of my haze.

"You do realize that since we look alike, by belittling me, you're belittling yourself, right?" he hissed, narrowing his eyes at me.

"Hmm no. I'm much prettier than you," I answered, a big provocative smile on my face.

"But I'm _bigger_ and _taller_." he whispered, taking a step closer again, hovering over me in a vaguely dangerous manner.

"Okay, I think we all get it!" Elena spoke up, waving her hands between us. "You both love yourselves much more than you… tolerate each other."

Giving us no time to answer, Elena grabbed Damon's arm to turn him around. Placing both her hands on his back, she pushed him toward the door.

"Thanks for stopping by Damon! Time to get out," Elena added, dragging him cross the living room.

"What? But I just got here! You've interrupting a lovely chat, you know…"

"Goodbye Damon!" Elena shot, throwing him with of all her strength toward the door.

"Fine," he said, laughing at Elena's attempt to be bossy. Raising his head past her to look at me in the living room, he added, "Nice meeting you…"

He never got the chance to learn my name. And I wasn't planning to tell him. I opened my mouth to give him a snarky comment, but Elena beat me to it.

"Maya. Her name is Maya," she said in a smooth tone. A big smile grew on Damon's lips, his eyes shining with charm.

"Well, it was really nice to meet you Maya," he said softly, before Elena slammed the door right in his face. My first encounter with Damon Salvatore had pretty much determined the tone of our entire future relationship.

But all of this had happened almost two years ago. So many things had changed since then…


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** Thank you to everyone who reviewed, favorited and followed "My Paper Heart!" It's really great to get your feedback. :)

There's a character in this chapter that I happen to especially miss seeing on the TV show. I really enjoyed writing a little tribute to him, so keep your eyes peeled for his appearance. ;)

**Disclaimer:**_ I do not own _The Vampire Diaries_ or any of its characters. This is a work of fiction written for entertainment purposes, but the original characters and original storylines present in "My Paper Heart" are my own work._

* * *

_All of this had happened almost two years ago. So many things had changed since then…_

On one particular evening, I had learned of the existence of a supernatural world. Vampires, witches, werewolves, and a little farther down the road, doppelgangers, the ability to see dead people, and hybrids.

They had gathered at the Salvatore mansion to announce the news to me. Everyone was there: Elena, Damon, Stefan, Alaric, Bonnie and Caroline. When I entered the mansion, they looked at me like I was walking to my death sentence. At the time, I hadn't known how close to the reality that statement really was.

Elena made me sit on the couch and took my hand in hers. She explained everything quietly and slowly, like she was talking to a five year old. They were all staring at me like they expected me to turn hysterical or crazy, but I disappointed them. All in all, they were pretty stunned by my reaction.

Of course, I was surprised. And I had a thousand of questions. But I had known for months that they had been hiding something from me. I had noticed that the Salvatore brothers were different without being able to figure out why. Some of Bonnie's reactions or statements were also strange sometimes but they made total sense as soon as I knew the truth about what she was.

But my calm reaction was mostly due to the tiny voice in the back of my head saying that I had known about the supernatural for a long time now, and for a good reason.

After the big revelation, I became Alaric's fighting buddy. Damon and Stefan had insisted that I learn how to protect myself from the moment they told me about the dangerous world I was living in.

Alaric had quickly realized that I didn't need fight-training when I threw him flat on the carpet. I might have forgotten to tell him about my eight years of taekwondo and judo practice.

Nonetheless, he taught me how to make vervain and wolfs bane grenades, how to use the wrist stakes, and showed me the technique for shooting a target with wooden bullets.

Despite all of this training, Damon, Stefan and Alaric hadn't wanted me to tag along with them on their missions at first. When I finally convinced them to take me as backup, they had insisted on keeping me out of the war zone. I had been ordered to stay away, hidden, and to move only when one of them would tell me to.

Unfortunately for them, I had never been the kind of girl to listen, wait and watch. Or maybe it was fortunate, because my first mission had been a total mess.

_Stefan was locked in Pearl's basement, being tortured by the evil tomb vampires. _

_Elena was pretty much as stubborn as I was, and threw herself into the middle of the vampires' nest without thinking. Alaric and Damon were fighting in the hallway, but they were too outnumbered. I cursed silently at the order they imparted on me, instead grabbing the crossbow hanging at my back. I used it to shoot my first stake- right through the heart of the vampire on Alaric's back. _

_When I joined the heat of the battle, everything was chaotic and happened too fast. It was incredibly terrifying, but I felt the adrenaline pumping wildly through my veins. I hadn't felt so alive since my parents died. It was incredibly empowering. _

_As soon as all the danger had been eliminated and we were all together and safe, Alaric shot me a side glance and scanned my entire body. When he realized that I had gotten away with only a scratch on my forehead, a satisfied smirk grew on the corner of his lips. Slapping his hand on the back of my shoulder a little too hard, he said, "We make a hell of a good team! Thanks for killing that bastard and saving my ass."_

"_You're welcome," I laughed, surprisingly happy to see him proud of me. _

_He groaned, remembering his choice of words too late. "I shouldn't talk to one of my students like that," he chided himself. "I'm a terrible role model…"_

"_You shouldn't hunt vampires with them either, so I think we're past that," I answered, a mischievous smile on my lips._

I had quickly become comfortable around Alaric. Like I was able to let out the darker, wilder part of myself without him being bothered by it. He never judged me; he even understood it.

Many missions had followed and we had in fact turned out to make a hell of a good team. He had saved my ass almost as many times as I had saved his, and I loved the unique relationship the two of us shared.

It was during this period that Alaric had noticed I was always walking away from the battle with only a few scratches and a couple of bruises. At first they began to joke about it, but it wasn't long before the group grew genuinely suspicious. How could a human girl avoid getting hurt while fighting supernatural creatures? I brushed it off, telling them that I was too smart for vampires and that I had the best fighting partner ever to cover my back. If the daily routine of Mystic Falls hadn't been so crazy, I knew I wouldn't have been able to get away with what had happened so easily. But somehow I did.

I wished I could have been able to talk Alaric out of it that easily when he told us that he didn't want to become a vampire- that he wouldn't complete the transition like Esther had planned. Because I felt like I was losing my parents all over again.

His funeral was perfect. Alaric would have liked it. Damon had even left a bottle of scotch on the side of grave instead of flowers. When it had been my turn to go up and say the last goodbye, I looked down at his coffin in concentration. I raised two of my fingers to place each of them under my eyes, then put my forefinger on my ear and finally placed it in front of my lips, like he had always done before every single one of our missions to remind me to look at everything, listen carefully and be quiet. It had been his way to telling me to be careful and come back safe.

After the ceremony, I felt numb for days. I wasn't able to breathe or even think. It felt like someone had ripped one of my arms off. Something was missing. Alaric was missing.

Elena was even more of a wreck than I was and it made me snap out of my own distress to cheer her up. So did Caroline and Bonnie.

Sharing the secret of a supernatural world had gotten me and the rest of the gang closer, but Alaric's death had bound us together even more. Over the years, I had learned to like each and every one of them. When Caroline had been turned into a vampire, she became stronger, more confident and gained an entertaining sense of humour. Without really noticing it, I grew fond of the girl.

She had become one of my best friends, even though I still wanted to slap her in the face now and then. She was a cheerful pain in the ass sometimes, but weirdly enough she never had been too pushy with me on certain subjects. Like my parents, or my sentimental life. _Smart girl._

Most of the time, I thought that becoming a vampire was the best thing that had ever happened to Caroline. But that would mean thanking Katherine for killing her, and that was not going to happen. That deadly vampire had made every single one of my friends' lives miserable. She had tragically changed many of their paths, and her schemes always seemed to turn our everyday lives into hell.

Strangely enough, I had never actually crossed Katherine's path myself. Half on purpose, half simply out of circumstances. And mysteriously, I was the only one she had never messed with. Probably because I tried to avoid her at all costs. I couldn't handle her frightening resemblance to Elena. It was utterly confusing to me, and I knew it made me too vulnerable- an easy prey for her.

I only had been in the same room as her once or twice, and I had every time stood quietly, as far away as possible from her. The only one moment I had gotten close to her had been to help Damon throw her in the tomb, and at that point she was unconscious.

The remainder of the time, I had been on the other team when the plan was to split up. Which was perfectly fine with me since I didn't have to interacting with her, or even worse, pretend that she was Elena.

None of us had seen her for many months after Alaric's death, and I was thrilled about it. She didn't have any kind of effect on me anymore, not after all we had been through in Mystic Falls. But I was still hoping that, now that Bonnie, Tyler, Damon, Stefan and I had finally succeeded in killing Klaus and burying him in the bottom of the ocean, she was not going to show up again.

Damon had developed some respect for me because of my abilities on the battlefield, but he was still the first class jackass with flirtatious manners. The only thing I really liked about him was his dry sense of humour, even though most of the time I restrained myself from laughing at his jokes in front of the others. I was sarcastic myself with a little touch of dark humor sometimes, but I had learned to keep it to myself when I moved to Mystic Falls. Despite my best efforts, it was still right beneath the surface, and I was really enjoying letting it come out every time I was alone with Damon.

Our sparring matches were refreshing and funny, though I frequently ended up wanting to punch him at the end of the conversation. But what made me perfectly fine with my need to hit him to get rid of the frustration he caused was that I knew he felt the exact same way about me.

It was different though**,** with Stefan and Bonnie. I had learned to get to know them better and now I could finally think of them as my friends.

I was impressed by Stefan's morals and loyalty, and had always appreciated his diplomacy. His unconditional love for Elena and the way he made her happy eventually allowed me to befriend him despite my jealousy.

Bonnie, on the other hand, was still judgemental, but not completely obtuse. She always managed to go along with ideas she couldn't even stand in the first place simply out of love. And I knew it required strength and devotion to be able to do that. After I interfered to protect her from being bitten by a vampire, and after she had saved my ass a couple of times, we both realized that we could count on each other. Without talking about it or even showing it, a tacit friendship had sprung up between us.

The only thing that hadn't changed during these two years was Elena's love for Stefan. And I had finally accepted it.

Because of our similar history, Elena and I had grown closer quickly, becoming almost inseparable. It felt like we both had known each other for our entire lives. I wasn't really able to define our relationship. It was like we had been in a terrible deadly shipwreck and we only survived it because we had found and helped each other. There was an indestructible link keeping us together that no one else could ever understand. She was my best friend, my soul mate, my sister, my confidante, all at once.

Because of that, I just sat on my feelings for her, every time life had been cruel to her, every time she had suffered a loss, every time Stefan had broken her heart, or turned into a ripper and she needed to cry on my shoulder. Every time she had wanted to be hugged, to feel safe in my arms, to snuggle with me in bed. But it was fine. I was able to handle it because she needed me. And I needed her.

It had been a couple of weeks now since Klaus had been killed, and everything seemed to go back to normal again. Klaus was dead; Rebekah, Elijah and Kol were nowhere to be found.

Caroline was still dealing with Tyler's death- he had sacrificed himself to help us mummify Klaus. We all knew his act was driven by the will to redeem himself for all that happened because of his sire bond to Klaus, but knowing that didn't help Caroline feel better- at first.

But now, her usual smile was back on her lips. Most of the time.

Bonnie seemed to have found her match with Jaime, and was finally at peace with her mother being a vampire.

Elena and Jeremy had managed to overcome their grief for Alaric after many talks with his ghost, and Jeremy eventually decided to go back to Denver- of his own accord this time.

Damon was dealing with his feelings for Elena, trying really hard to get her out of his head for good. Meaning: he was screwing every girl in town between two sips of bourbon.

As for Elena and Stefan, they had worked out their issues and were together again, seemingly happy and relaxed.

Without being able to completely shake the paranoia in our minds, we were slowly, finally, allowing ourselves to breathe a little and enjoy life… All we could hope for was that it would last.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N:** The "real" story starts now! Are you ready for it? ;)

**Disclaimer:**_ I do not own _The Vampire Diaries_ or any of its characters. This is a work of fiction written for entertainment purposes, but the original characters and original storylines present in "My Paper Heart" are my own work._

* * *

I was walking on the sidewalk, heading back to my house when I felt it. There was a vampire around, probably hidden behind the trees along the sidewalk.

I wouldn't have even been able to differentiate a vampire from a witch or a werewolf before I had come to Mystic Falls. But while I knew that my technique had grown stronger from the many battles my friends and I had fought together, I also knew that as a human, I shouldn't be able to hear this predator.

I kept myself from reacting to its presence and continued to walk, looking straight ahead. It was then that I heard footsteps behind me and I could feel the hairs standing up on the back of my neck.

"Hey, Maya!" Elena called out. "Wait for me…" she said a little bit out of breath. I stopped and slowly turned around to look at her. She was wearing a thin black sweater with medium-wash skinny jeans and her favorite black converse.

"Do you mind if I crash at your place? I managed to escape from Caroline after _three_ hours of shopping… she's killing me! I wouldn't want her to find me again," she continued in a half laughing tone, looking nervously around.

"That's not going to happen**,**" I deadpanned.

"What?" Her eyebrows drew together, a look of disbelief on her face. "Why not?"

"Because I don't invite vampires into my house**,**" I answered simply. She looked at me in utter confusion.

"What are you talking about?"

"Well, okay. _That_ was a fun conversation. Now I have to go," I said swiftly before turning on my heels. She grabbed my elbow, pulling at it to make me look at her. Her eyes were full of surprise and curiosity.

"How did you know?" she almost whispered, narrowing her eyes at me.

Damn it. I couldn't believe I have been careless after all. I needed to find a good explanation, and fast. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Damon coming my way. I stopped a sigh of relief just before it passed my lips.

"Is everything okay over here?" he asked, looking intensely into my eyes.

"Oh, hello Damon…" she purred, immediately running her finger along his chest.

"I don't remember asking for a knight in shining armor," I told Damon, answering his previous question. I was trying to cover up my relief, but a part of me was slightly pissed that he assumed I couldn't handle the situation by myself. She laughed at that.

"I think you just got mocked, Damon**,**" she said, clearly amused. He slapped her hand away, finally acknowledging her presence.

"What are you doing here, Katherine?" Damon questioned bitterly.

"Hmm… don't pretend like you didn't miss me," she answered with a childish smile.

"I didn't. Goodbye, Katherine," he shot back harshly.

"Someone's grumpy today. Did Elena play with your feelings again?" she asked in an innocent tone.

"So pathetic of you to have nothing better to do than drag your unwanted ass in this little town again," he growled lowly.

"You never have been able to keep my ass out of your thoughts, isn't that right Damon?" she shot back in a flirtatious tone.

"Don't flatter yourself bitch," he drawls through gritted teeth.

"Okay, lovebirds. I'm gonna go now**,**" I said in a cheerful voice. They both simultaneously turned their heads toward me, greeting me with a shocked expression and wide-opened eyes. "But don't let me interrupt you. Please, keep going with your lovely chat." And with that, I turned on my heels once again and began to walk in the opposite direction.

Thinking that I was too far away to hear, I heard Katherine ask**,** "Did she just say _lovebirds_?" Damon just growled furiously.

I stopped myself from chuckling just in time, but I couldn't restrain the big smile that spread on my face.

Even though I had been able to pretend that I wasn't impressed, or even scared of Katherine at the moment, I had decided to stop at the boarding house instead of going straight home, and was waiting there impatiently for Damon to come back. I needed to know what the Master Chief of Evil Schemes was doing back in town. I figured that she had played her little act with me just for kicks- knowing how much she loved to make a big entrance- but I knew for sure that she hadn't come back just to say hello. That thought only served to make me incredibly tense. My fingers were still trembling from our encounter earlier.

As soon as he opened the door, I couldn't stop the myself from yelling.

"Why is she here?"

"She said that she came back to see for herself if Klaus was really gone**,**" Damon answered quietly.

"And you believe her?"

"Of course not!" he shot back, looking at me like I was stupid.

"Any idea why she could be here?" I asked tentatively.

"Nope. That's the beauty of Katherine. You never know what she's up to until she decides to let you know- and that usually implies blood," he added, crashing on the couch.

"I know." I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose tightly. "Great. Back to square one then…" After a moment of dreadful silence, Damon raised his head and narrowed his eyes at me.

"What was that earlier?" he asked in a slightly angry tone. _Crap._

It was always difficult for me to admit that I could be afraid. Especially to _him_. But I figured that telling the truth this time would be less painful than another one of our witty arguments.

"I was trying to cover up my relief to see you arrive," I mumbled, looking up at him through my lashes. I was so sure he was going to jeer at me and walk around swollen with conceit. But to my surprise, he remained silent for a while; seemingly assessing what he was going to answer me.

"How did you know it was Katherine?" he suddenly asked. _Oh come on! _ I had totally forgotten to find a good answer to that, too busy trying to figure out why Katherine might have been here all of a sudden. Plus, it never crossed my mind that he would ask.

I needed a change of friends- and I would start by hanging out with idiots.

"How did _you_ know?" I shot back, trying to buy me some time.

"I heard you ditch her, saying that you don't invite vampires into your house." _Convenient. _He stared at me expectantly.

"I knew Elena could never have been able to get away from three hours of shopping with Caroline and go back home without at least one bag**,**" I said as firmly as I could muster. He laughed at my statement.

"True. But that's not completely impossible…" he pointed out, raising an eyebrow at me.

"Well, her sneakers were also looking too unused to be Elena's favorite**,**" I blurted out quickly. I was making up explanations as I was talking, hoping it would do it. He gave me a disbelieving look. "What? You're the one who told me once I had a good sense of observation…" I shrugged one of my shoulders at him, a conniving smirk on my lips.

"What were you going to do if I hadn't showed up?" he asked suddenly serious.

"Keep the conversation going while walking back to my house, and hope to be miraculously able to go inside where she can't reach me."

"Considering whom you were dealing with, that sounds like a good plan to me," Damon stated simply. We both looked at each other worried, the threat of Katherine hanging heavily in the air. He lifted his head to look at me straight on, a grin slowly appearing at the corner of his lips.

"What if it really had been Elena?" he asked in an amused tone, obviously trying to light up the mood.

"I would have tried a '_Sorry! I was joking'_ I guess," I said, laughing.

"She would have been totally pissed at you."

"Absolutely," I agreed, responding to his knowing smirk with a similar one. I walked toward the coffee table to grab my jacket. "So what now? We just wait and see?" I added, serious again.

"I guess. But instead of reading, I will be carving some stakes tonight," he answered, a cruel grin on his face. I gave him a meaningful look while putting on my jacket, and grabbed my bag.

"Your instinct was really impressive on this one, but just in case, put a stake in your purse and keep your weapons bag close, okay?" he added quickly.

"Aaaw… Is Damon Salvatore _worried _about me? That's cute," I sing-songed, a provocative smile on my lips.

"I'm not. But I couldn't handle it if your _besties_ started to cry over yet another body. It would drive me crazy for good- maybe even kill them myself," he replied dryly. I laughed at his dark humor because I knew that it was his way of saying that he didn't want any more death around our little gang.

"Well, the same goes to you. Don't do you anything stupid, okay Damon?" I warned him sternly.

"Aaaw… Could Maya be worried about me? That's cute," he shot back, mimicking me.

"I'm not. But if you die, who would we possibly blame for every mess happening in Mystic Falls?" I said, a big ironic smile plastered on my face. He narrowed his eyes at me and groaned slightly.

"Fair enough. But _lovebirds_?" he said in a raising voice, referring to our previous encounter with Katherine. "That was off limits!" he warned, pointing his finger at me.

"Fine," I agreed, laughing and making my way toward the door. "Okay, I'm out of here… Bye Damon."

"I'll drive you." He grabbed his car keys and joined me. When he noticed my raised eyebrow, he spread his lower arms around his sides, palms up. "What? You'd rather be Katherine's rabbit?"

I glanced at him, annoyed, but still mumbled a thank you.

He pulled his car along the sidewalk in front of my house. Reaching for the door, I turned my head toward him to tell him goodnight.

"Be careful. And if she shows up and talks to you again, just tell me, okay?" he said deadly serious. I laughed humorlessly at his comment.

"If she shows up again, it will be to obtain something, and I really don't see why she would come to me for that. But sure..." I answered, opening the car door. He wished me good night before I shut the door and I heard him driving away while I was walking toward my doorstep. I took the few steps and pulled my keys out of my bag.

"Well, hello again," a voice said from the left side of my porch. I was so startled that I almost let drop my keys onto the floor. I was too drawn in my thoughts about the day to feel her presence before she spoke. I cursed at my recklessness inside my head.

"We haven't officially met," she said again, in a distinguish tone. She raised herself up from the bench, and swayed her hips toward me. She had dropped the plain-jane style and her hair was curled again.

"I'm Katherine Pierce." Her hand rose elegantly and she extended it toward me. I looked down at her hand quickly and my eyes darted back up. If she thought I was going to shake the hand of a 500 year old vampire, she have had a really low opinion of me.

"I know who you are," I deadpanned.

"Oh really? How so?" she purred, lowering her hand casually.

"I don't know... maybe because you tried to sell out my best friend. Or because you tried to make her aunt kill herself," I answered, pretending to deeply think about it. I knew I should stop the provocation right here, but I couldn't help myself. "No! Because you actually killed my other best friend... no, no… Because you tried to make Tyler kill Matt to trigger his curse? Oh wait! No! I got it! It's because I helped Damon throw you into the tomb!" I added, the fake enthusiasm thick in my voice- I knew it made me sound like I was happy to have finally put a finger on it.

She shot me a deadly glance, her features suddenly dark and cold. My breath caught in my throat. Did I have a death wish? I knew she could snap my neck like a twig before I could even blink and yet, I couldn't restrain myself to make fun of her. _Damn it.  
_She narrowed her eyes and stared at me intensely. She took a slow step toward me and was now only a foot away. My entire body screamed at me to get the hell out of here, to run like crazy, and yet I was rooted in my spot. Despite my fear, it was my pride that made me go against all of my instincts. I always hated it when someone walked over to me- so I made sure it never happened. Thinking about it, though, now would really be a perfect time to start.

"How did you know?" she almost whispered, curiosity dripping from her voice.

"Know what?" I tried in an innocent tone.

"It wasn't my clothes or my hair, I know that," she continued, ignoring my attempt to postpone the subject. "What was it that gave me away?"

"You didn't have any bag. Elena would have never been able to get away from Caroline without at least one bag," I answered quietly, truly hoping that she was going to buy it like Damon did. She titled her head slightly to one side, amusement shining in her eyes, but didn't say anything.

I felt like it was an opportunity for me to reach my door and lock myself safely inside. I started to walk backward very slowly, not taking my eyes off of her.

"Okay. Now that you have your answer and it's all cleared out, I'm going to go in," I drawled, trying to distract her while I slid and turned my key inside the bolt.

She was still in the same position, her eyes locked on me, but she didn't even pretend to move to keep me from getting inside. I found it extremely suspicious but didn't stop to think about it. I pushed the door open swiftly and almost run inside, a mute relief at the top of my lungs.

When I turned around to close the door behind me, she was standing just in front of me, right outside my doorstep. A gasp almost escaped my lips but I managed to hide my shock. She smiled mischievously at me and started to walk backward toward the street.

"Goodnight Maya," she purred, waving playfully her hand at me. I closed the door in a hurry, and leaned my forehead against it, closing my eyes. My heart was drumming loudly inside my chest and I was trying to catch my breath. I grabbed my phone in the back pocket of my jeans and dialled Damon's number. While waiting him to pick up his phone, I turned around, leaning my head and back against the door.

"Everything okay?" he immediately asked in concern.

"Awesome. Remember when you said to tell you if she showed up again?" I asked in an attempt of humorous tone. I heard nothing but silence for a few seconds.

"When? What did she want? Are you alright?" he blurted out angrily.

"She was on my porch, Damon. Who knows what she wants? She just asked me how I saw through her little act this afternoon." I sighed, suddenly feeling extremely tired.

"What did you say?"

"Same thing as you."

"She believed it?" he asked in a hopeful tone.

"I don't know. But she didn't ask further questions, so…" I trailed off.

"Did she talk about anything else?" he asked softly, probably noticing my own small voice.

"No. Damon?"

"What?"

"I have a bad feeling about this**,**" I said quietly, rubbing my forehead.

"Me too."

"Great. I'm feeling totally relieved now," I answered sarcastically.

"Do you want me to come over?" I froze for a second. It was highly unlike him to be so kind and concerned. The fact he's offered to come over was emphasizing how serious and dangerous this was, and it made me even more worried by the second. I swallowed the lump in my throat.

"No, it's fine. I'm safe inside**,**" I said as firmly as I could.

"Okay."

"But… thank you," I added, a small smile on my lips.

"Sure."

The line went silent again for a few seconds.

"Good night Maya," he murmured. "And sleep with a stake beneath your pillow."

I abruptly laughed at his comment. "Bye, Damon."

I hung up and paused for a moment, looking at the closet in front of me. Pushing myself off of the front door and walking toward it, I opened the door quickly, bending down. There was a bag on the floor; I unhooked the leather strap and pulled the stake out of it.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: **Thank you so much guys, for favoriting, following and giving me feedback! Keep them coming; they always make my day! :)

**Disclaimer:**_ I do not own _The Vampire Diaries_ or any of its characters. This is a work of fiction written for entertainment purposes, but the original characters and original storylines present in "My Paper Heart" are my own work._

* * *

My eyes shot wide open, and I knew instinctively that I had slept for too long.

The night before hadn't exactly been restful. Still unconsciously gripping the stake under my pillow, I squinted at the clock: 7:42 am. _Crap! _

I jumped out of bed, grabbed the first pair of pants I could reach, and took the fastest shower of my life. My hair still dripping, I rushed down the stairs and went for the door. It wasn't until I had one hand on the knob that I hesitated for a second. But I couldn't feel her presence outside, so, after taking a deep breath, I pulled the door open quickly and then slammed it behind me.

I rushed into the street and started to walk at a brisk pace. I struggled to put my jacket on while walking. I pulled my hair a few times trying to sling the bag over my shoulder- which only increased my bad mood. As I walked, a creepy feeling suddenly nagged at the back of my mind.

"Someone is in a rush this morning!" Katherine sing-songed playfully, appearing out of nowhere.

"Oh come on! Don't you have anything better to do than stalking me?" I snapped, my irritation overtaking my fear for a second. I didn't stopped or even slowed my pace and she started to walk to match my tempo, but backward to look at me straight in the eyes. It was extremely annoying that she was able to do that without stumbling or even hit a street lamp.

"Aren't you happy to see me?" she asked, mock hurt in her voice, a pout on her lips.

I shot her a nasty side glance, not even bothering answering and increased even more my pace. She chuckled at me and quickened her footsteps to keep up, still staring at me. I sighed in annoyance.

"What do you want from me?" I asked harshly.

"Nothing," she answered, nodding her head slightly. "I just find you intriguing. And funny."

"I guess I should feel flattered," I said blankly.

"You should. It's a really pleasant combination that I rarely find in people."

"It's probably because you don't look hard enough. You should go do that."

"See? Funny," she shot back in amusement, tilting her head to the side. At that exact moment, I was torn between laughing and slapping her in the face.

"You're following me just because you find me intriguing and funny?" I asked in disbelief.

"Yes."

"And you expect me to believe that?" I shot back, raising my eyebrows.

"Why not? It's a pretty good reason if you ask me," she answered with a small pout on her lips.

"You do realize that your previous record of twisted games and evil schemes make it really hard for anyone to believe that?" I questioned unbelievingly.

Why was I talking to this woman? And so openly? It was then that I realized how slow I had been walking since starting my conversation with Katherine. I needed to reach the school as soon as possible. Sure, I wouldn't be safe inside there, either- but at least Stefan, Caroline and Bonnie would be there to help me out.

"Sometimes things are exactly what they seem to be," she said, shrugging one of her shoulders carelessly. I rolled my eyes before I could stop myself.

"Fine. Let's say I believe you. Why am I intriguing you?" I asked suspiciously. She shot me a mischievous grin, obviously enjoying the fact that I was curious after all.

"Because you're not scared of me. And I terrify everyone, including Damon- despite his efforts to pretend otherwise." I almost froze in my spot at her sentence but managed to keep my legs moving.

"I'm scared of you," I stated simply, utterly surprised by my own honesty.

"No, you're not." I laughed humorlessly at her conviction.

"I think I would know better. Trust me, I am! I'm just really good at hiding it…" I couldn't believe I was arguing with a deadly vampire, trying to convince her that I was terrified of her.

"I can hear your heartbeat, you know?" she said with a raised eyebrow. "I can even see your pupils dilating or see you sweating." She gave me a knowing smile. I didn't know what to say. How could I argue with that even though I was indeed scared of her? Thankfully, I was only a few feet away from the high school doors. The area was empty because I was late**,** but I really believed that I was fast enough to reach the doors and run to the classroom if it was necessary.

I braced myself and suddenly rushed toward them- but once again, Katherine didn't make a move to stop me.

Ignoring her suspicious behavior, I snuck through the doors. Before they closed behind me, I heard Katherine say, "Have a nice day, Maya" in a maternal voice.

I gritted my teeth so hard that it hurt.

The three graces gave me a worried look as soon as I stepped into the classroom. They kept glancing at me as I was reaching my table, seeming confused by my lateness and my obvious dark mood. While pulling out my stuff off my bag, I mouthed them silently "_I'm fine_" and reassured them again at the end of the class, telling them that I had just overslept. Which was partially true.

Elena, Caroline and Bonnie had already had their hard time with Katherine, and since I couldn't spot her presence around the school anymore, I didn't want to worry them.

The day went by slowly. When I finally got out of basketball practice, I knew that Caroline had finished her cheerleading practice, too. I rushed to the parking lot to catch her.

Even though I had managed to pull out a pleasant face the entire day, I was very anxious about going back to my house alone. I really wasn't looking forward to stumbling upon Katherine again, and I was hoping that Caroline's presence would dissuade her from showing up. If not, I would be safer with her anyway.

"Caroline!" I called out, spotting her next to her car.

"Hey you! What's up?" she greeted me with her usual sparkling smile.

"Could you give me a drive home?" I asked a bit urgently.

"Why? You live just next to the school."

"Is that a no?" I said, a little bit hurt.

"No, of course not!" she cried a bit too loudly. "Jump in the car, I'll drive you." She flashed me a warm smile before taking place behind the wheel.

"Thanks." I was even more grateful for the ride than she would ever know.

"No problem," she answered lightly, pulling her car out of the parking lot. "Now, are you going to tell me what this is about?" She gave me a quick side glance, encouraging me to talk with a smile. I really should write a note to myself somewhere about that '_start hanging out with idiots'_ thing.

"I just thought we could study our history lesson together. Unless you already did?" I knew Caroline didn't like history, so there was a big chance thatshe hadn't even opened her book yet.

"Oh! No, I didn't…" she mumbled, looking like a five year old who just got caught a hand in the cookie jar. I stopped myself to laugh at her childishness.

"I guess it's okay. My mom's working tonight anyway," she added, flashing me a cheeky smile.

"I'm serious about studying, Caroline," I chided her. Her smile dropped instantly, and I couldn't stop myself from laughing. "But we can order your favorite pizza if you want." Her face lighted up again and I thought to myself that she could totally kill someone with cuteness.

We managed to get through our history lesson, and with Caroline, that was not an easy task to accomplish. Since Katherine hadn't shown up, the evening was a total success.  
I was trying to convince Caroline to stay overnight. I was glad that her presence seemed to keep Katherine away, and a morning without an encounter with the evil vampire was _really_ tempting.

"You said your mom was working all night anyway! Why being both alone in our own house when we could have a sleepover?" I argued, trying to make my point.

"But I don't have any clothes!" Caroline shot back, panicked. Her obsession with clothes and fashion was one of the few things about Caroline that were getting on my nerves.

"Don't be silly, Caroline. I can lend you some clothes."

"But you're taller than me! And more muscled."

"You say that like I'm a bodybuilder! You're the one who does crazy stunts during practice, not me!" I said, raising my voice in annoyance. "You can perfectly fit in my clothes Caroline, and you know it." She looked at me with unconvinced eyes and a pout on her lips. "Come on. What if I let you choose anything you want in my wardrobe?" Her eyes suddenly shined with mischievousness and a big smile appeared on her face.

"Let's go!" she shrieked, clapping her hands together. I chuckled and followed her upstairs. While she was going through my closet like she was on a mission, I busied myself by changing the bed sheets.

"So why did you oversleep this morning?" she asked suddenly, still focused on my clothes.

"I couldn't sleep last night," I said simply, removing the last pillowcase.

"Why?"

"Because of life," I dodged quickly. She didn't complain about my evasive answer, which was really surprising for Caroline. When I turned my head toward her to check if she hadn't mysteriously disappeared, I saw that she was giving me an '_are you kidding me'_ look. But I wasn't going to give any more of an explanation. The sudden spark in her eyes and the smile growing on her lips didn't seem good to me.

"Who is it?" she asked in a cheerful tone.

"What?" I wasn't prepared for that one. Caroline was usually avoiding that subject with me and I was really happy about it.

"Well, you said you couldn't sleep. It could be because of someone…" she explained softly, with an encouraging smile.

"Or it could not."

"Oh, come on! I'm absolutely certain that a lot of guys at school would die to go out with you!" she teased me, obviously enjoying this conversation a little too much.

"Oh my god!" she suddenly cried, pulling an orange summer dress with a yellow waistband out of my closet. "It's gorgeous! Why haven't you ever worn it?" she asked, looking at me like I had committed a capital crime.

"Because I don't wear dresses, Caroline," I sighed in annoyance.

"Then why do you have one in your closet?"

"Because my mom bought it for me," I answered simply.

"Oh." Her expression changed instantly into sadness and embarrassment but she didn't say more. Instead, she cautiously put back the dress on the hanging rail, focusing once again on the inside of my wardrobe. I was thankful that she didn't push it further or even try to apologize.

I only had time to put on the fitted sheet before she remembered our previous conversation.

"You're beautiful, you know," she said, looking at me over her shoulder. "And hot!" she added with a coquettish grin. "I'm serious when I say you drive boys crazy. I guess in the same way that Damon drives girls crazy…" she continued more for herself, wincing in disgust.

"Jeez, thanks!" I shot back. Her reaction irritated me. I had accepted the fact that Damon and I looked alike but I still didn't like to be compared to him.

"Oh no, that's not what I meant!" Caroline exclaimed, realizing the grimace she had made. "Damon is still a first class jackass but beside that, the guy is steamy! I would know…" A flash of sadness crossed her features.

"Caroline…" I didn't know about the supernatural dramas at that time, but I had heard about her story with Damon since. And I had witnessed her brokenness after Damon had finished toying her.

"It's okay," she said at last, brushing off the painful memory with a genuine smile like she always did. "The point is, you have the same beauty and charisma as him but you have something he doesn't. A great personality! Which makes you every guy's dream."

"I believe you really overestimate me Caroline, but thanks for the compliments…" I gave her a soft smile before tucking up the top sheet on the bed, hoping it would close the subject.

"I'm not. And it would be about time that a lucky guy makes you lose your sleep!" she insisted merrily. For the past two years, my friends never saw me dating anyone. And for good reason.

"There is no guy, Caroline," I answered sternly. "Now time to go to bed!"

"Oh come on!" she whined childishly.

"We have school tomorrow," I cut her off, giving her amused side glance.

"But I hadn't find my outfit yet!" she cried in a drama queen tone.

"Sure you did."

"You're right," she laughed, a playful smile on her lips. "What do you think?" she asked, proudly showing me the girliest and skinniest outfit that I owned.

"Perfect," I said, smiling to myself. "Now, come to bed," I continued, lying down on my favorite side. She reluctantly climbed in after me. I turned off the bedside lamp and rolled onto my side toward the wall.

"Maya?" she whispered softly after a few minutes of silence.

"Shut up and sleep, Caroline."

"But…"

"We're not having this conversation again! There is no guy, period," I sighed annoyed.

"I was going to say… are you okay?" she murmured. I could hear the worry in her voice and I instantly felt bad for chiding her. I smiled at the thought that Caroline was actually a good friend. A little bit too insightful for her own good, but still a really good friend.

"I'm fine, Caroline**,**" I assured her gently, my voice betraying the smile on my face. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight," she answered back softly, crossing the bed toward me and snuggling closely along my back. I tensed slightly at the touch. God, this girl had no sense of boundaries…

The next morning went smoothly; there was no trace of Katherine. I was starting to think that she had begun to focus on the reason she was really here for- and that I had finally gotten rid of her myself.

The only drama I had to face was an explanation to Elena and Bonnie. They wanted to know why they hadn't been invited to the "sleepover"- they had noticed Caroline wearing my clothes.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: **The love that you guys are showing for "My Paper Heart" is really amazing! Thank you!

**Disclaimer:**_ I do not own _The Vampire Diaries_ or any of its characters. This is a work of fiction written for entertainment purposes, but the original characters and original storylines present in "My Paper Heart" are my own work._

* * *

As soon as I stepped into my front walkway, I felt her presence. A light breeze carrying her perfume confirmed that it was Katherine. I hesitated for barely a second before taking a slower step forward. I knew that if I paused even briefly, she would notice my change of attitude and would probably figure that I had felt her somehow. That was the last thing I wanted. I quickly thought of a way to turn back without seeming suspicious, but I knew I was already too far down the alley to pretend that I forgot something or changed my mind. I thought about pretending to get a call or receive a text- anything that could explain a modification in my direction. But I was certain she wouldn't be fooled because of her super hearing.

I closed my eyes quickly and took a deep breath. I was starting to get really tired of her little game. I wasn't going to let her play with me any longer.

I took the few steps deliberately slowly and stomped my two feet strongly on the porch, positioning myself straight toward her with a determined look on my face.

The sparkling smile on her lips widened as I stepped into her sight.

"Hello Maya," she purred. She was seated comfortably on my bench, eating ice cream. The last part was definitely a surprise, but I managed to stay composed.

"Did you miss me?" she giggled childishly.

"You should only ask questions that you actually want to hear the answers to." Damn, this woman was bringing out the worst in me. "What are you doing here?"

"I brought you ice cream," she answered coquettishly. "But since I wasn't seeing you arrive, I started to eat mine. It would be such a shame to waste it," she added with a mischievous smile, plunging her hand into the paper bag next to her. She withdrew it to reveal another cup of ice cream. "Want some?" she asked nicely, handing it toward me. I looked at the cup, then at her very suspiciously.

"Seriously? Poisoning you would amount to riding a bike when you can drive a Ferrari," she pointed out, offended. "If I wanted to kill you, I would snap your neck or suck you dry; don't worry." She flashed me a devilish smirk.

"Well, in that case…" I said with a mock enthusiasm. Her threat had frozen the blood in my veins for a second. I cautiously reached for the cup, careful not to touch her hand. "What is it?" I asked, eyeing inside the cup warily.

"Ice cream." I shot her an annoyed look.

"Irish cream liqueur, chocolate chip cookies and coffee," she finally chuckled. My eyes snapped up to meet hers. That was my favorite flavor. She couldn't possibly know that.

"It's my favorite. I hope you'll like it…" she added smoothly. Okay, now I _knew_ she was playing with me.

She was looking at me as though I was unwrapping a gift she had spent hours selecting. I took a spoon of ice cream and slowly lifted it to my mouth. I made sure that I didn't display any sign of approval or disapproval once the ice cream melted on my tongue. She looked slightly disappointed, but brushed it off with a smile. She patted the empty space next to her on the bench and said cheerfully, "Come sit."

I couldn't believe that she was actually inviting me to sit on _my_ bench when _she_ hadn't even been invited to sit in the first place.

"I'm perfectly fine where I am."

"Come on… That's all I get for bringing you ice cream?" she asked seductively.

"Oh, so you do want something!" I shot back sarcastically. "Well, thanks for the ice cream." I slammed the cup on the guardrail and turned back toward my door.

"Wait! I just want to talk." She stood up but was careful to keep her distance, as though she didn't want to scare me away. And _that_was exactly what made me snap. Her behavior wasn't making any sense.

"You just want to talk, huh? That's it?" I shot out in a forceful tone. "You became aware of my existence three days ago, and suddenly, all you want is to talk to me? You really think I'm stupid?" I asked harshly, raising my voice even more.

She didn't answer right away, but took a careful step toward me, her eyes intensely searching my face.

"Is it so hard to believe that someone could be interested in you?" she whispered softly.

"Don't try to psychoanalyze me! It will not get you anywhere," I snapped, my voice dripping with anger.

"Fine. What do you want me to say then?" she asked a little bit on the defensive.

"Why did you come back to Mystic Falls?"

"I already told Damon…" she pointed out in annoyance, "that I wanted to see for myself whether or not... that cruel, psychotic bastard was gone for good." Her voice tensed at Klaus mention.

"Yeah, sure."

"It's true," she said innocently.

"Then what about your change of attitude?" I asked again imperturbably.

"You mean toward you? Nothing changed," she pursued after I nodded slightly at her question. "It just happened that I've been busy staying alive for the past 500 years and that I did everything I needed to assure my survival," she said coolly. "Turns out you never crossed that path, that's all." She turned slowly and walked toward the guardrail.

"Honestly, if I had needed you to serve my purpose, I would have used you without a second thought. If you had been the one with vampire blood in your system that night at the hospital, I probably would have turned you just like I did to Caroline," she continued nonchalantly. Weirdly enough, I had no problem believing her this time.

"Plus, you never tried to mess with me or even kill me. At least not that I know of…" she trailed off with a glint of defiance in her eyes and a sharp smirk on her lips. She picked up the cup on the guardrail and swiftly turned around, walking languidly toward me.

"To sum it up, I never had time, until recently, to get to know you, and I know now it's really a shame." She stopped only a foot away from me, a conniving smile on her lips. She handed me the ice cream again. I slowly raised my hand to grab the bottom of the cup with my fingertips, waiting for her to let it go. Her eyes sparkled with mischief.

"Because I'm so funny and intriguing," I mocked.

"Exactly." She giggled, looking at me through her eyelashes provocatively. She let go of the cup and suddenly looked at me intensely, a serious expression on her face. Her eyes were roaming over my features, inspecting every single inch of my face. I automatically tensed. It was making me extremely uncomfortable.

"Your resemblance to Damon is really fascinating," she whispered, her eyes still locked on mine.

"Says the doppelganger."

"Funny," she deadpanned, giving me a dry glance. "Don't you ever wonder why you two look so alike?"

"Yes. But I'm sure you already know the answer to that… It's probably written somewhere in that big file you have on me," I answered sarcastically. I was only half joking about the file part but her answer freaked me out anyway.

"Absolutely true!" she exclaimed in a cheerful tone, bouncing on her heels emphatically.

I stayed mute for a few seconds. I was baffled that she would admit so carelessly that she had a file on me.

"Seriously?" I asked hesitantly, incapable of knowing whether or not she was messing with me about it. She raised an eyebrow and gave me a knowing look.

"Then what does it say?" I asked, trying to sound detached. I couldn't help my curiosity. I had finally gave up after a few months and accepted our resemblance as a scary coincidence, but the possibility that maybe Katherine knew more about it than I did was killing me. Judging from the look she had on her face, I could tell she knew exactly the effect she had on me at this precise moment.

"Nothing, actually," she answered, lazily waving a hand in front of her. "It's purely coincidental, which makes it even more suspicious," she continued pensively, narrowing her eyes at space. Saying that I was disappointed would have been an understatement. If Katherine of all people hadn't found anything out of the ordinary, it meant that the resemblance between Damon and I was indeed nothing more than Mother Nature's lottery.

"Even more suspicious than what, doppelgangers?" I joked, trying to brush off my disappointment.

"Of course! Doppelgangers have nothing to do with a lucky break. There's a real reason behind it.**" **Her condescending tone caused an ironic smirk to curl around one corner of my mouth.

"You know, ordinary people usually find our kind of resemblance funny, but pretty normal. Being a mirror of someone else's image, without being twins, on the other hand…"

"But we're not ordinary people…" she said, leaning her head playfully toward me. "You would have known." A wave of heat suddenly crushed over me. I couldn't shake the feeling that Katherine was regularly implying she knew something was off about me, since the very first time we met three days ago. I quickly brushed it off as my usual paranoia and answered almost instantly, not letting her see my confusion.

"The daily routine of a girl in Mystic Falls is in fact not even _close_ to ordinary…" I laughed nonchalantly. She looked at me in the eye intensely like she was seeing right through me. My mouth turned dry immediately. I took another spoon of ice cream from the bottom of the cup to busy myself.

"And yet, you seem to handle it pretty well for a human," she stated simply. She was doing it again. I withdrew extremely slowly the spoon out of my mouth to try to compose myself, but realized too late how sensual it could appear. And from the way she was looking at my lips right now, it didn't go unnoticed.

"Actually, I was really glad that our lives were supernatural dramas free until you came around," I shot back with a sarcastic smile plastered on my lips. I had no idea if she could see it but I was starting to panic. A thousand of ideas were storming inside my head, trying to be prepared to anything she was going to say to me.

"I think you having a little chit chat all alone in the dark with a deadly 500 years old vampire while keeping your heart steady proves otherwise," she said, balancing her weight on one foot and crossing her arms over her chest, a cocky grin on her lips.

"For the third time, I am-" She cut me off before I could say that I was scared of her.

"You're not. It's just your primal instinct that tells you to be wary in the presence of a predator, that's all. And you are because you're not completely stupid."

"Thanks, I guess…" I tentatively said, with a raised eyebrow.

"But you're not scared. You should try to get in right away every time you see me, run to the Salvatores to protect you, or even stutter and tremble, and yet here you are." Amusement and curiosity were shining in her eyes.

"If you were so bothered by the fact that I'm supposedly not terrified of you, you would have already tried to restore the balance by… flashing your fangs at me or pining me into a wall," I pointed out with a self-satisfied smirk. Until I realized I was giving her ideas. What was wrong with me?

"I never said I was bothered by it. I actually find it refreshing," she declared with a genuine smile. "And it really makes me curious to know why you're the only one around here…" she continued, narrowing her eyes at me. I knew she had a point saying that I wasn't scared of her. I was always distrustful around her, sure, and was always discreetly searching for safe exits, but I couldn't honestly say that I was terrified of her. And I didn't really know why. Except for the obvious.

"I guess it's just because you never actually did anything to me directly," I admitted quietly. "Not for the past two years, and not since you came back in town…" I added pensively, still feeling surprised about that fact every time I thought of it. She settled for just staring at me for a while, not saying a word. I waited patiently, unsure, hoping my answer would satisfy her somehow.

"Hmm, that's good to know. It will certainly be helpful for what I have planed next," she purred playfully. The thought of her having an actual plan caused a lump in my throat.

"Which is?" I asked, my voice coming out a little raw, failing to hide my nervousness.

"To get you inside my bed," she sing**-**songed mischievously.

"And what for?" I couldn't believe what she was actually implying.

"To have sex with you, silly." She laughed light-heartedly.

* * *

"She… WHAT?" Damon shot loudly, shock and disbelief written all over his face.

"She wants to have sex with me, Damon," I repeated, slightly annoyed. "I thought that you of all people would get it right away," I added dryly. I realized too late that comment could imply that Damon wanted me too. He looked at me intensely, his brows strongly furrowed, but to obviously think hard of a solution.

"That's it. From now on, you're staying here with us," he imposed firmly. I had rushed to the boarding house after my encounter with Katherine; not exactly sure what to do with her disturbing… _plan_.

"I'm not a very social person, Damon. I'm not even sure I could last a day with the two of you in here," I said, laughing humorlessly. "Plus, everyone can come and go as they wish in this house." I looked around, disillusioned. Damon became even more upset at my comment.

"You're right." He stared at the ground, seeming lost in his thoughts and finally shot his head back at me. "Then I guess you just won two bodyguards," he stated unequivocally.

"Two?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes, two," Stefan answered, walking suddenly into the living room. I hadn't noticed his presence before he spoke- and I had no idea how much of this conversation he had heard.

"No matter what Katherine has planned for you, I will not let anything happen to you," he added determinedly, positioning himself next to his brother. The both of them together illustrated a flawlessly united front. There was no way I was going to be able to convince them otherwise. So I caved and gave them a shy smile.

"Thank you," I said quietly.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N**:I love to hear from you, guys. Thank you for your reviews and pms! They never fail to make my day so keep them coming... :)

**Disclaimer**:_ I do not own _The Vampire Diaries_ or any of its characters. This is a work of fiction written for entertainment purposes, but the original characters and original storylines present in "My Paper Heart" are my own work._

* * *

"Hello sunshine! Your escort is ready," Damon said cheerfully in a mockingly gentlemanly manner, as soon as I opened the door.

"Hi Maya," Stefan added, an apologetic smile on his lips.

"Hi guys…" I grabbed my keys and my bag. "Okay, let's do this." I sighed, still not convinced that the whole thing was a good idea.

I got in the backseat of the car, Stefan sitting very close to me. Damon took the wheel and started to drive, but I knew that if the car could drive itself to the school, I would have a Salvatore on each of my sides, flanking me closely. The two of them were alert and wary, making me incredibly nervous.

"So, what's the plan exactly?" I asked, trying to ease the tension. "You're going to waste half of your time following me around every time I want to step outside?"

"We're not wasting our time, Maya…" Stefan answered seriously, looking at me with furrowed brows.

"That's pretty much the plan until we figure out what this is all about," Damon stated bossily. "Plus, we're vampires Maya; we have more time that we need," he added, a cocky grin on his lips.

I almost shot back "_Maybe you do__,_" but kept my mouth shut. I would just rub in the fact that he didn't have the girl of his dreams to spend every minute of his day with. It would have been mean of me, and he didn't deserve it. At least, not at the moment.

I shot a quick, questioning side glance at Stefan, trying to figure out if this body guard thing was okay with him too, knowing it would impinge on his time with Elena. He gave me a barely noticeable nod, a little reassuring smile on his lips.

When I stepped out of the car and walked toward the high school doors, I felt like I was a celebrity ready to walk on the red carpet with my two body guards in tow. A couple of students we passed by gave me a half surprised, half scornful look. _If only they knew_. I sighed, trying to relieve my discomfort, and was glad to finally reach the doors. They stopped just in front of them, still trailing me closely, looking nervous and concerned.

"Are you okay?" Damon asked, giving me a piercing look.

"You mean, despite the feeling that I'm back at my first day of preschool again?" I joked in a half hearted tone. They were both too damn serious about this, and it was making me even more uncomfortable than when Katherine was around. Damon shot me a sarcastic smirk.

"I'm going to stay around while you're in class," he informed me seriously.

"Damon, you don't have to. It's fine, she's not going to-"

"No discussion! See you later," he cut me off, winking at me. I kept my mouth shut and watched him disappear around the corner of the building, my brows knitted together in worry. I turned around and walked into the hallway.

"Is everything okay?" Stefan asked softly, glancing at me carefully, and standing firmly at my side.

"Yes. It's just…" I murmured, looking at the ground. "I don't want any of you getting in trouble."

"_You_ are in trouble. And there is no way in the world we could possibly let you deal with it all by yourself," he stated in a smooth caring voice. "Everything will be fine, OK? We're not leaving your side," he insisted, being his usual strong warm-hearted knight in shining armor. I wasn't convinced but gave him a small thankful smile anyway.

The day went without noticeable incident and the same routine was repeated the next morning. When Stefan and I arrived together again in the classroom for the second time in two days, all the students gave us a suspicious glance. Including Elena, Caroline and Bonnie. I pretended not to notice it, hoping that if I was acting like it was perfectly normal; it wouldn't turn into a big deal at some point. The little act was proving to be difficult to keep at lunch break, when Elena grabbed Stefan by the hand.

"Come to have lunch with me?" she asked him in a perky tone. Stefan glanced up quickly at me. I was supposed to meet one of my team mates to pick up the new practice schedule before going to eat.

"I have something to do first, but I'm right behind you, okay?" he answered with a smile, giving Elena a soft peck on her lips. Elena looked at me, confused then her eyes landed on Stefan again, but kept her mouth shut.

When we joined them at the cafeteria a little bit later, Caroline was bombarding Bonnie with questions about Jaime. Despite the fact that Bonnie was usually conservative about those kinds of subjects, she was playing along knowing that Caroline was living vicariously through her relationship with him to sooth Tyler's absence. Stefan slid smoothly on the chair next to Elena and snaked an arm around her back to give her a quick kiss on the cheek. I sat down between him and Bonnie.

"So what you two were doing?" Elena asked, glancing between Stefan and me with a curious smile on her lips.

"Nothing. Just picking up some papers, that's all…" Stefan dodged nicely. She narrowed her eyes at him and finally looked suspiciously at me. I suddenly drew my attention toward my plate, taking a bite of my meal to avoid her gaze. I hopped that maybe Bonnie or Caroline would keep Elena for bringing up the subject but they were so immersed in their own conversation that they didn't pay any attention to us.

"Not that I'm the jealous girlfriend type, but you two have to admit that showing up together twice in two days kind of look suspicious!" she said, half laughing. "Not to mention that the two of you obviously have secret meetings…" Stefan and I both laughed at her comment. On my part, I was laughing at the thought that she could even consider something happening between me and Stefan. She had no idea how beyond absurd it was. I took another bite to cover up my hilarity.

"You're jealous of Maya? Or are you jealous that you can't have your best friend for yourself when I'm spending time with her?" Stefan asked jokingly, looking tenderly at Elena. I choked on my food at his question.

"Both!" she answered, laughing merrily. Damn it, this discussion was making me uncomfortable.

Fortunately for me, the next topics were a lot more usual and the rest of the day went smoothly. Until Elena asked Stefan, after our last class, if he was up for picking up Chinese food and having a movie night at her house.

"Right now?" he asked, a little bit taken aback.

"Yes," she answered, a bit surprised by his reaction. I positioned myself out of Elena's sight and gave him all the signs I could possibly do quietly to tell him that it was fine- that he could go. He shot me a stern side glance.

"There's just one thing I need to do first, and then I'm all yours," he said gently, stroking her arm. But Elena didn't buy the evasive answer this time. She turned her head quickly to look at me, seemingly making a connection with what already happened at lunch.

"Another secret meeting?" she asked blankly.

"I have a bunch of heavy stuff to carry home… He's just going to drop me off," I mumbled urgently. I hated lying to her. I couldn't handle her looking at me with confusion, or suspicion.

"Fine," she said a bit sternly, starting to walk toward the outside doors. "But the two of you will have to explain why you're suddenly acting like you are glued together at the hip," she continued while pushing the door open. Damon's head suddenly popped into view through it.

"Hi there! Ready to go?" he asked me cheerfully, a big grin on his face. I instantly shot him a nasty look. _Worst timing ever_.

"Okay. What's going here?" Elena asked harshly, turning back to look at me and Stefan straight in the eye, her arms crossed over her chest.

* * *

"What?" Stefan let slip unbelievingly.

"She wants to _what_?" Elena asked at the same time, utterly shocked. They were both standing side by side at the frame door of the Mansion's living room, their eyes wide open. I would have found it funny, or annoying, that everyone seemed to have the same reaction at what Katherine had planned, but even though Elena's surprise was expected, Stefan's not so much. I shot my head swiftly toward Damon, realisation suddenly hitting me. The look on his face was surprisingly matching mine.

"You didn't tell him?"

"You didn't tell _her_?" We shot incredulously at the same time.

"_I'm_ the only one who should get to ask this question!" I spoke up, irritated. "Stefan has been helping me for two days and you didn't think it would be a good idea for him to know?"

"You're one to talk!" he shot back. "I thought she was your best friend and you two were telling each other everything…" he said in a taunting tone, mimicking an 8 year old girl.

"Just shut up, both of you!" Elena yelled suddenly. It was so unusual of her to snap like this that Damon and I immediately shut up. We exchanged a quick side glance, tacitly knowing that we were both in trouble.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Elena asked strongly, her brows furrowed in confusion.

"Because I didn't want you to worry."

"Because I didn't want him to get all chivalrous about it." We answered at the exact same time. I gritted my teeth and looked quickly at Damon, returning his annoyed glare.

"Stop doing that!" Elena shot out, irritated, watching the both of us unbelievingly.

"He's the one doing it!"

"She's the one doing it!" We exclaimed together_. A__gain_.

"Oh my god, I'm going to slap them both…" Elena sighed exasperatedly, rubbing her temple with two of her fingers. Stefan stroked her lower back gently and gave her a smoothing smile. She turned her attention to him.

"Why didn't you tell me Stefan?" she asked quietly, in a slightly hurt tone.

"It's my fault. I asked him not to…" I admitted before he could say anything. Stefan looked at me, obviously upset that I was taking the blame on me.

"You already went through a lot with Katherine; I didn't want to worry you," he said miserably. "The plan was to figure out what she was up to before dropping the bomb on all of you." Elena looked at him intensely but remained silent; giving him a quick nod to acknowledge him that they were fine.

Stefan turned his head toward me.

"Do you see any reason why she would want to… get you inside her bed?" he asked me gently. I would have found his hesitation cute if it weren't for what he was implying.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I shot back, instantly on the defense.

"I can see thousand of reasons why someone could want her inside their bed…" Damon muttered, a cocky smirk at the corner of his lips. I turned to him sharply with wide opened eyes. Did he just really say that?

Stefan looked embarrassed right away, realizing what he had implied.

"That's not what I meant," he apologized sheepishly. He took a few seconds to obviously think how to formulate his thoughts. "Did something happen between you and Katherine before that we don't know about?" he asked again cautiously.

"Of course not!" I shot out, offended. I really didn't like the turn this conversation was taking.

"Oh come on!" Damon snapped exasperatedly. "No need to be a psychic to know why Katherine wants to sleep with Maya! The bitch is a notorious horny slut, that's why."

I was really thankful for Damon's intervention. I could think of one reason why she went after me specifically, but I was far from ready to share this information with any of them.

I suddenly realized that Elena hadn't said a word for a while now, and when I turned my head toward her, I caught her staring at me, a strange look on her face. I couldn't decipher the expression she was making, but it made me wary. She quickly brushed it off when she became conscious that I was looking at her and covered it up with a soft smile. A glint of worry shone in her eyes before she could conceal it.

"Okay. Now that we have cleared the air, can we stick to the plan and avoid anymore drama?" Damon asked in a dryly tone. After a few seconds, Elena and Stefan just nodded in response.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N**: Sorry for the late update, guys! I hope you're going to enjoy this new chapter. :)  
Thank you so much for all your reviews and kind words! (Hello Germany ;))

**Disclaimer**:_ I do not own _The Vampire Diaries_ or any of its characters. This is a work of fiction written for entertainment purposes, but the original characters and original storylines present in "My Paper Heart" are my own work._

* * *

The next day, Caroline and Bonnie bombarded me with about one thousand questions. During classes, between classes, and all day long. They were driving me nuts.

Elena had given them a heads up last night on the phone and was obviously happy that she wasn't the one being hassled anymore. They certainly didn't like the news that Katherine was back in town and were clearly worried about me, so I called on my patience and answered every single of their questions or concerns. Even though I found Caroline a little too enthusiastically curious about Katherine's interest for me.

The day had been quite exhausting but I needed to go to the grocery store if I didn't want to die from starvation. I asked Damon and Stefan if we could walk there together. Staying locked inside my house all day after school was driving me insane. They refused at first but after witnessing my desperation to get some fresh air, they finally went along with the idea.

"Are you settling for a nuclear bomb attack?" Damon asked, staring in disbelief at the four grocery bags Stefan and I were carrying. "Who could even eat that much of bacon anyway?" he mocked, eyeing the inside of one of the bags.

"I _love _bacon," I said, shooting him a stern look. He waved his hands in front of him in defence.

"Fine. Let's just get you safe and sound inside your house... now that you've cleaned out the entire grocery store," he mumbled with his usual sarcastic smirk. He started to walk in front of me. Stefan was walking by my side and we both shared unfortunate cooking experiences we'd had throughout our lives until we were almost at my house. I abruptly stopped talking and instinctively drove myself behind Damon's back. He gave me a quick surprised glance over his shoulder but finally felt it too. He took a step forward, placing himself between the two of us in a protective way.

"Hello Maya," Katherine sing-songed in a seductive tone, but her eyes were locked on Damon's.

"What do you want?" Damon shot harshly.

"I just want to talk to her," she said softly, pointing to me.

"That's not going to happen." Damon growled and took a menacing step toward her, effectively masking Katherine from my view.

"Damon…" Stefan warned.

"I don't think either of you have anything to say about it," Katherine informed them in a fake light tone. Since Damon was standing right in front of her, she tilted her head to the side to look past his arm and straight at me with an expecting look. The air was so incredibly tense that I was fearful the situation would end in a blood bath. I held her gaze stubbornly but kept my mouth shut.

"I think you have your answer..." Damon drawled icily. "Now, go away!"

Katherine was still looking at me intensely. After a few seconds, she seemed to finally accept that I wasn't going to talk to her.

"Fine," she said, covering up her vexation with a detached tone. "I'll play along. But this isn't over," she added, a devilish smirk on her lips, glaring at Damon with cold eyes. She turned around slowly and stuck her stiletto heel into Damon's foot while walking away nonchalantly. Damon bent down slightly and let escaped a small low groan through his gritted teeth. It must have been really painful. She probably had pierced the entire thickness of his foot, and from the little pool of blood that was coming out of the new hole in his shoe, I knew she had.

"That bitch ruined my shoe!" Damon growled angrily.

"Damon, are you okay?" I asked concerned, reaching my arm out toward him to give him support.

"I'm fine. Let's go," he answered firmly, straightening himself up. His pride had obviously been further damaged than his shoe, so I kept my mouth shut and started walking. He limped awkwardly all the way to my house, leaving little blood stains on the sidewalk behind him.

I stopped at my front door, put down my bags, and turned around to look at them both seriously.

"Okay, I'm going to say it," I started firmly. "It's not working."

"What are you talking about?" Damon asked in an annoyed tone.

"She _hurt_ you Damon!" I shouted angrily.

"It's not like a little snag in my shoe is going to scare me away," he huffed, condescending. "Plus, I had a bunch of stakes for her if she had gotten a little too insistent…" He flashed me a smug smirk while tapping on his inside and back pockets.

"Don't play dumb!" I shot out in exasperation, punching him in the arm.

"Ouch! Has no one ever told you not to shoot a man down?" he whined, rubbing his arm dramatically. I rolled my eyes, knowing perfectly he didn't even feel it.

"She only pierced your foot to make a point, you idiot! It was a little reminder that she could tear you both apart effortlessly, and do whatever she has in my mind to _me_ if she wants to!" I stated in an irritated tone, frowning at him.

"You're right," Stefan said calmly. "But you _had_ been off the hook for almost three days. It's better than nothing…"

"I'm thankful for that, but I don't want any of you to get hurt," I answered him strongly. "And she didn't hurt anyone before you two became my personal escorts."

"Don't even think about trying to get rid of us," Damon shot, clenching his jaw. "We're not going anywhere." He stared at me with a burning look.

"If she shows up again with more threats, we're prepared Maya. Don't worry." Stefan used a reassuring tone. I ran my fingers through my hair nervously and then let my hand drop carelessly in defeat.

"Fine," I sighed. "See you tomorrow then…" I added with a week smile on my lips.

I picked up my bags and went straight to the kitchen, putting them down carefully on the counter. While putting away the food I had bought, I realized I was exhausted. It had been a very long day… I was also starving but too lazy to cook anything. I hastily grabbed an apple and dragged myself upstairs. I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.

I woke up all of a sudden, not knowing why. I didn't remember having a nightmare and no matter how hard I listened, the house was perfectly silent. I remained wary for a little longer but finally let my head crash onto my pillow. I reluctantly stretched my arm toward my bedside table to look at the clock: _6am._ I sighed heavily in annoyance. Way too early to get ready for school. I buried myself under the covers to go back to sleep but I was too damn awake. After a couple of minutes, I surrendered and got out of bed.

Since I had more than enough time, I decided to treat myself. I went downstairs finally in a good mood and started to cook myself a delicious breakfast.

I took my plate full of pancakes, bacon and strawberries, while carrying my glass of fresh orange juice in the other hand, and put it down on the coffee table. I turned my TV on while taking a sip of my juice and selected an episode of _True Blood_. My friends didn't understand how I could like it so much- after all, we were sort of living in the middle of our very own vampiric show. They were also baffled that I could watch something gory while eating breakfast, but there was something about this TV show I really enjoyed. I settled myself comfortably on the couch, ready to press the play button.

"Hello sexy…" Katherine purred smoothly. I was so startled that I jumped a little, miraculously managing to not spill my juice all over the couch. I knew she couldn't enter into my house, but her voice made it sound as though she were sitting next to me. It wasn't possible. I swiftly shot my head toward where her voice came from and saw Katherine's face framed into a broken window pane. I opened my eyes widely, my jaw dropped in disbelief.

"Did you sleep well?" she asked me in a cheeky tone.

I looked at the broken glass on the floor and back up at her.

"What the….. _hell?!_" I shouted incredulously.

"Oh, that?" she asked lightly, pointing to the broken window. "It wasn't me," she said in an innocent tone. I shot her a furious look, my knuckles turning white around my glass.

"Okay, fine. Maybe it was me…" she continued sheepishly, while looking at me through shy eyelids. "But it's your fault, actually!" she chided me, a glint of mischief in her eyes.

"Are you_ kidding_ me?" I couldn't believe the nerve of this woman!

"Well, you're the one walking around with two bodyguards…" she explained, pouting. "I had to find a way to talk to you," she continued in a seductive tone, and a playful smile danced on her lips.

I stared at her for a while, blankly, with wide open eyes, and finally turned my head slowly back toward the screen. I decided to ignore the crazy vampire standing at one of my window panes and pressed the play button.

I couldn't tell how Katherine was reacting, since I kept my eyes purposely on the screen but I could guess she was probably not happy with me ignoring her.

"So, what are we watching?" she asked in a bored voice. I took a bite of my pancake as an answer.

"A vampire show? Seriously?" she mocked once the opening credits appeared on the screen. "How cliché of you…" she purred sarcastically. I didn't bother answering her provocation.

When Eric Northman flashed his fangs on the screen, I couldn't possibly hear what he said next because Katherine was laughing heartily.

"What is with those fangs?" she asked in an offended tone. "Was there a plop sound? Do they have to pull a drawer from their mouth to put them back in?" she laughed, obviously enjoying herself. I tried to keep myself from rolling my eyes and continued to eat my breakfast like she wasn't even there.

"By the way, this waitress is beyond dumb. She wouldn't last a second in front of a real vampire," she stated seriously. I restrained myself from telling her that she was a fairy, deciding she didn't deserve wasting my breath. She kept babbling on like that for the fifteen next minutes, making my blood pressure go through the roof. She was obviously making me pay for ignoring her.

"I didn't say anything about the silver nonsense, but those romantic scenes are too much! So kitsch and mushy…" she sighed, annoyed. "I don't even understand how you can watch this thing." I crashed my head backward to the top of the couch in exasperation and pressed the off button on my remote.

"Hey, I was watching that!" she shot, in an upset tone. I raised myself from the couch and passed in front of her to go upstairs.

"That's it?" she asked me, surprised. "You're not going to talk to me at all?" I could hear amusement in her voice.

I took the stairs two at a time, still ignoring her, and headed up to the shower. Thank God the bathroom didn't have a window. Who knew what she would have done with _tha__t_ one…


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N:** Thank you so much for your messages! Please keep leaving reviews and feedback, I love to know what you guys think. ;)

**Disclaimer:**_ I do not own _The Vampire Diaries_ or any of its characters. This is a work of fiction written for entertainment purposes, but the original characters and original storylines present in "My Paper Heart" are my own work._

* * *

"She did what?" Damon shot, his eyes almost popping out of his head.

"Which one did she break?" Stefan asked in a pragmatic tone, looking around at my windows.

"The one next to the couch…" I said, pointing it vaguely with my finger. "But the glazier came by this afternoon to replace it," I added like we were just having a small casual talk.

"Why didn't you tell us this morning?" Damon shouted suddenly, looking at us both incredulously.

"Because I knew you would react like that and I didn't want you to go military crazy all day long…" I deadpanned, finally acknowledging him. "Plus I wanted to have enough time to talk to you both."

"We're not having this conversation again Maya." Damon flashed me a warning look.

"She broke my window, Damon. I'm walking around for four days now with two body guards and she still found a way to make my life miserable!" I spoke up, annoyed.

"What did she want?" Stefan asked calmly.

"Apparently nothing, except spoiling my episode of True Blood."

"You're still watching that show?" Damon asked, surprised. I narrowed my eyes and shot him a nasty look.

"Did she try to hurt you… through the window?" Stefan continued hesitantly, interrupting the staring contest between me and Damon.

"No… and that's the thing actually. From the very start, she has never even tried!" I stated with a sigh.

"Which is highly suspicious…" Damon said quietly, his brows furrowed.

"You'd rather that she hurts me?" I crossed my arms over my chest and raised an eyebrow at him.

"That's not what I meant," he answered lightly with an exaggerated grin on his lips.

"Damn it, she wants to _sleep_ with me! Hurting me would not be a smart way to make that happen!" My volume increased substantially, the impatience growing inside me.

"How long do you think it's going to last if you don't?" Damon asked, a cocky smirk plastered on his face. I stared at him blankly for a few seconds, realizing he had a point.

"Assuming that that's really the only thing that she wants anyway," he added, full of himself.

I sighed, pinching the ridge of my nose between my fingers.

"I still want you to stop following me everywhere I go," I said tiredly.

"Not going to happen," Damon dodged swiftly.

"The whole point of you two being my body guards was to keep her away! Well, guess what? It's not working!" I shouted exasperatedly. "She's just going to break some more of my windows! Or maybe show up at school, or hurt the both of you, or whatever else her twisted mind can think of…" I continued, feeling tired and beat. "What do you suggest to avoid that, huh? Keeping me locked in a basement?"

"Don't tempt me," Damon growled.

"I'm serious, Damon," I said in an annoyed tone.

"So am I."

"Okay, what are you saying Maya?" Stefan asked seriously. "That you want us to stop protecting you? You really think that's a safe idea?" he continued gently, but he was obviously worried.

"Look. I know Damon has a point about the fact that my… immunity will not last for long. Until then, though, I don't want either of you to get hurt when she's obviously not _after_ me…" I answered gravely. "Well, not like that at least…" I added awkwardly.

"There's another solution," Damon intervened.

Stefan and I both looked at him expectantly.

"We stake the bitch," he stated simply. I looked at him like he just lost his mind.

None of us talked for a few confused seconds until Stefan finally spoke up.

"Damon is right, Maya. It's not like we can go to the police and file a restraining order…" He was clearly trying to use reverse psychology, a half smile on his lips, to make me come around to the idea.

"Actually, that's a good idea!" Damon exclaimed enthusiastically. "We could make Liz get on board and launch a slut hunt with the council."

"Seriously, Damon?" I asked him unbelievingly and let my arms drop in despair.

"I don't know if involving the council is such a good idea, but we could easily build up a plan…" Stefan said softly, giving me a questioning look.

I stared at Stefan, then Damon. They were deadly serious about this.

"No," I refused them sternly.

"No?" Damon repeated, confused.

"Out of the question!"

"And why is that, Miss Maya?" Damon asked in a mockingly distinguished tone, a cocky grin on his lips.

"I can think of two good reasons," I shot back. "First, one of us, if not more than one, will end up hurt or dead, and I'm not going to let that happen until we don't have any other choice."

"You want us to wait until she hurts you first?" Damon said in a know it all tone.

"Have a little faith in me, Damon," I growled, annoyed. "It's not like I'm defenseless… Alaric taught me well!" I continued, shooting him a harsh side glance.

"We know you're not helpless, but it would be a better-"

"The second reason is that she didn't do anything reprehensible," I asserted firmly, cutting off Stefan's remark. "Not since she's been back in town anyway…" I clarified quickly.

"Yet!" Damon added. "Not a good enough reason for me anyway," he concluded sternly through gritted teeth.

"It is for _me_!" I shouted, stepping closer to Damon and pushing softly on his shoulder, goading him to look at me. "You have already killed a lot of people throughout your lifetime. Both of you have," I continued firmly, my eyes moving back and forth between the two of them. "Killing her based on her previous records would mean that you deserve it too. And I'm absolutely _not_ okay with that." I knew my words were harsh, but I needed them to see from my point of view.

"Plus, believe it or not, I think a vampire life is still a life…" I concluded quietly.

"Never stopped you from killing one before," Damon shot, upset.

"They were actually trying to kill _us_, Damon…" I answered sharply.

"I heard what you said Maya, and it's very honorable of you," Stefan affirmed with a sad smile on his lips. He hesitated for a few seconds and finally said, "We will respect your choice…"

"Of course _you_ respect her choice!" Damon shouted angrily, glaring at his brother.

"But as soon as it starts getting to be too much or too dangerous…" Stefan trailed off, ignoring his brother, a deadly serious expression on his face.

"I will tell you right away, I promise," I answered resolutely, giving him a thankful smile.

After a dreadful moment of silence, Damon leaned in closer, hovering over me.

"You're going to regret this," he warned dangerously. His manner was threatening and his eyes were piercing my skull but I knew it was his desperate way to make me change my mind.

"Probably," I admitted softly. He searched my face intently for any sign of surrender. I tried my best to soothe him and assure him that everything will be fine through my eyes.

"Let's go Damon," Stefan murmured.

"You go; I'll join you later," Damon answered quietly, stepping away from me slightly.

"Damon…" Stefan warned lowly.

"I'm not happy with any of this, but I will respect Miss Maya's choice, OK?" Damon shot out in irritation, ignoring his brother. Stefan glanced at me with a questioning look, unsure if he should go or stay.

"I just want to spend some alone time with her, damn it!" he added, opening his lower arms around emphatically with his palms up. "How can I charm her if baby bro sticks around, huh?" He continued his tirade in an exaggeratedly comical way. I chuckled at his last comment and gave Stefan a little nod to reassure him that I could handle his brother. Stefan responded in the same way and went for the door.

"Alone... Finally!" Damon exclaimed, waving his eyebrows suggestively at me as soon as Stefan closed the door behind him.

"Where do you want me? On the floor or on the table?" I inquired expressionlessly.

"What?" Damon asked, suddenly confused and uncomfortable.

"Just wanted to get your attention. So, what did you want to talk about, lady killer?" I teased, a mischievous smirk on my lips. I was trying to restrain myself from laughing. His face was just _too_ priceless.

"Actually, you're the one who needs to talk," he said seriously, finally recomposed.

"Really? And what do I need to talk about?" I demanded, raising a brow at him.

"I don't know…" he began, pretending to think about it with narrowed eyes. "Maybe about how you felt Katherine's presence, even before I did?" He stared, an intense, knowing look burning holes in my head.

I had managed so far to conceal my little unusual abilities, mostly due to the fact that I was using them only in the heat of the battle. And everyone was always too busy then to notice anything out of the ordinary so to speak. But with Katherine in town, stalking me, I was having a really hard time fighting my instinct. I scrambled to find a plausible explanation.

"I have magical powers," I said simply. Damon opened his eyes wide and looked at me with both intrigue and intensity at once.

"I'm kidding, Damon," I deadpanned. "You were just so focused on the _possible_ spots she could hide herself in that you didn't even notice she was coming right at us!" I was totally bluffing. I had reacted too impulsively after feeling Katherine's presence to see what Damon was doing at that exact moment. He narrowed his eyes at me, obviously not entirely convinced. But he kept his mouth shut for a moment.

"What about you not wanting a personal escort?" Damon asked suspiciously.

"I thought we already had this conversation…" I dodged the question, a slight frown on my face.

"We did. But, I want to know if there is something more to it," he continued quietly, scrutinizing my reaction.

"Like what?" I really had no clue as to what he was getting at.

"Well, the bitch has some really good tactics," he started carefully. "She's dripping sex pretty much all the time, and surely knows how to seduce anyone crossing her path. Male and female, as a matter of fact," he continued, watching me cautiously. I had to admit that he was trying to be diplomatic for a change, but the message was pretty clear right now.

"Are you seriously asking me if I want to sleep with her?" I confronted him, raising my eyebrows.

"Do you?" Damon asked warily.

"What could possibly make you ask that?" I asked in surprise. His precautions to talk to me were making me even more confused.

"Well, like I said… She leaves no one indifferent. Not even her enemies," he stated simply. "And even though you're a pretty stubborn ass, you're still human," he added, in his usual sarcastic tone. I looked at him right in the eyes, intently, and waited for him to continue. I knew there was something he wasn't telling me. He furrowed his brows, obviously uncomfortable, and took a slow step to stand close to me.

"Is it really that farfetched to think that you could want to sleep with her?" he almost whispered, looking at me as though he could see right through me. My gut was screaming at me that he knew. Somehow he knew. I swallowed hard.

"Are we still talking about Katherine?" I asked softly, my voice coming out a little hoarse. He didn't say anything, but gave me a kind, honest look to encourage me.

"How do you know?" I murmured in a resigned tone, breaking eye contact to look at the ground. He reached my face with his hand to lift my chin up, making me look at him.

"Because there is no way you could have resisted me otherwise…" he said gently, half laughing, with a genuine smile on his lips. He managed to get a smile out of me, but I suddenly gave him a nervous look.

"Don't worry… Your secret is safe with me," he affirmed truthfully, gazing at me with caring eyes. I responded with a shy, thankful smile. I didn't know why, but I needed to make the connection we had just shared physical, too. I raised my hand slowly and rested it delicately on his chest, directly over his heart.

"Thank you," I said quietly. And I meant it with all my heart.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N:** I'm so glad that so many of you are excited about this story. I hope you will all keep loving and reviewing.  
Ready? I have a feeling that some of you are really going to enjoy this chapter... ;) Happy Reading!

**Disclaimer:**_ I do not own _The Vampire Diaries_ or any of its characters. This is a work of fiction written for entertainment purposes, but the original characters and original storylines present in "My Paper Heart" are my own work. _

* * *

The conversation with Damon last night had been emotionally exhausting for me. I had fallen asleep without even realizing it, only to wake up early again.

I felt drained as soon as I opened my eyes and lazily decided to just pour milk into my cereal; I couldn't be bothered with anything more extravagant.

I took my bowl and dragged myself to the living room, hoping I could finally watch my "True Blood" episode in peace.

As soon as I passed the door frame, I felt her. I restrained myself from sighing forcefully, but I was really in no mood to deal with her. She was standing in front of the same window she had broken a panel from, smiling at me joyfully.

I responded to this by promptly shooting daggers at her with my eyes.

"You shouldn't have repaired that," Katherine said, pointing to the panel with her finger. "Unless you want me to break another one," she added with a mischievous smile on her lips.

Even though she was talking to me through a closed window, I heard her perfectly.

But since I wasn't supposed to be able to, I pretended I couldn't hear her by frowning and pointing at my ear. She shifted her weight on one leg and raised one of her eyebrows, gazing back at me blankly. I put my bowl down on the coffee table and was about to sit on the couch when I caught her turning backwards very slowly out of the corner of my eye.

I looked up at her, suddenly getting a bad feeling about this. She turned around swiftly, coming towards me again with a flower pot in her hand, preparing herself to throw it through my window. I rushed suddenly in front of it, waving my hands wildly to signal her to stop. She froze for a second, shooting me an expecting look. I sighed and pointed a weary finger to the side to indicate the front door.

I reluctantly strode the few steps leading to the door and took a deep breath before opening it. Katherine was already standing right in front of it, posed in a seductive manner.

"You have to stop doing that!" I shouted, annoyed.

"I will if you stop ignoring me," she answered, not even bothering to look at me. Her eyes were too busy roaming over my body. "Nice PJ's..." she purred, a satisfied smile gracing her lips.

"Like you didn't see them yesterday," I deadpanned.

"I did. But the sun makes me see them in a whole new light." Her gaze lingered on the entire length of my legs that my boy shorts were revealing. She also stopped to stare a little too long at my breasts, molded in my camisole top.

I knew perfectly well that she couldn't see through my PJs. She was just trying to make me uncomfortable. But as I folded my arms over my chest in a daring manner, I admitted to myself that the way her eyes were undressing me would be enough to make pretty much _anyone_ nervous.

"I get it, you won't be ignored again, so stop breaking my windows! Comprende?" I asked harshly, purposely ignoring her flirtatious behavior.

She finally met my eyes for a moment as she raised one of her hands gracefully to the top corner of the door. Leaning her chest against the frame casually, she gave me a lazy grin. Even though I knew that there was an invisible barrier between us, I forced myself to resist the urge to take a step backward.

"Someone's feisty, today…" she purred, a provocative look in her eyes.

"I would say _grumpy_, but I really have no idea why I would be…" I shot back, narrowing my eyes at her. My voice was dripping with sarcasm. I knew she would get the hint, but she just made a big show of her amused little smirk. I slammed the door in her face.

I almost ran into the living room to catch my bowl before she could show up at my window again. Gulping down my cereal, I rushed upstairs to get ready for school.

Once I had showered and gotten dressed, I grabbed my bag to head for the door downstairs. I stopped in the middle of the staircase, trying to feel whether or not she was still there.  
She was. Damn it!

I descended the rest of the stairs as quietly as possible and tiptoed carefully toward the kitchen, aiming to sneak out the back door. I closed it silently behind me, but I hadn't taken three steps before I could suddenly feel her again. I closed my eyes for a second and clenched my jaw, mentally preparing myself for round two.

"This is getting fucking creepy…" I groaned through my teeth.

"I agree. It looks like you're trying to rob your own house," she said, hands on her hips and her head slightly titled to one side.

"I meant you stalking me," I shot back dryly.

"Well, would you have invited me in if I had knocked at your door?" There was a sarcastic smirk at the corner of her lips.

I kept my mouth shut but gave her a deadly look.

"That's what I thought," she added with a knowing smile.

"That doesn't mean that you can't try to act a little less perversely."

"You're the reason I'm acting this way," she stated matter-of-factly. "If you weren't so hot, I wouldn't even have noticed you." Irony caused her lips to curl upwards.

"Oh, of course!" I raised my forefinger up to my chin to fake a sudden understanding. Dropping the act a second later, I gave her a harsh look. "How shallow of you…"

"Are we fishing for compliments?" she asked with a mischievous expression on her face. The way this woman was twisting my words was absolutely frustrating.

"I thought I had been pretty clear earlier that I wasn't fishing for anything," I said in a steady and serious tone. I knew perfectly well that she would get the innuendo.

She stared at me for a few seconds with an intrigued look in her eyes.

"Actually, you never said anything about it," she pointed out, an amused smile on her lips. "Where is your personal escort by the way?" she suddenly asked, looking around, effectively changing the subject and the atmosphere. "I never thought a little snag would scare Damon away…" she continued, laughing lightly.

"I dismissed them actually," I informed her coldly. The very pleased grin growing on her lips did not seem good to me. "Don't imagine things. I did it because I didn't want you to hurt them," I continued sternly, making it perfectly clear it wasn't because I wanted to spend some alone time with her.

"What about you?" she asked in a soft tone, but there was a ferocious smirk on her lips. I swallowed carefully.

"One is better than three, I suppose…" I tried to appear as nonchalant as I could manage.

"You shouldn't sell out your life like that." Her voice was surprisingly firm, her eyebrows furrowed.

"Oh please! Like you care whether or not I'm dead or alive."

"I do. How could I sleep with you if you're six feet under, hmm?" She purred her sentences smoothly, drawing them out.

"Then don't kill me."

"I wasn't planning to," she said lightly, raising an eyebrow. "Unless you give me a good reason…" Her eyes turned cold for a second and she flashed me a devilish smirk. I froze at her implied threat. I took a quick breath and bent my muscles, ready to use my wrist stakes.

"Well, I think I'm about to give you one…" I started, scrutinizing her reaction. Her attitude suddenly changed from mischievous to clearly displeased. I cleared my throat and braced myself.

"I'm not interested in your indecent proposal," I finally said, as firmly as I could mutter. To my surprise, her face immediately relaxed, a glint of amusement shining in her eyes.

"You're not?" She tilted her head to the side, a soft smile on her lips. "That's funny. I thought you would… since I look just like her," she continued with an intense gaze, her soft smile still on her lips. Her words felt like a dagger right in the heart. She couldn't possibly know that. None of my friends had figured it out. I was suddenly feeling very exposed and had a hard time breathing. I couldn't let Katherine get a hold on me. Especially not with this. I knew it was pointless to play dumb, but I needed to respond very carefully.

"I don't _sleep_ with my friends," I answered simply, acknowledging that I understood her innuendo, while at the same time faking a little bit of shock.

"The fact that you don't sleep with them doesn't mean that you don't want to…" she sing-songed, taking a few steps toward me playfully.

"I don't want to." I affirmed this point strongly.

"Good thing I'm not one of them, then…" She nodded her head in front of my face with a mischievous expression.

"What didn't you understand about, '_I'm not interested in your proposition'_?" I asked unbelievingly, raising slowly my eyebrows at her. If I had to admit one thing about Katherine, it would be that her perseverance was impressive.

"Nothing. I just don't believe you..." She chuckled childishly.

"Ok, I don't get it," I said, confused. "You can obviously have anyone you want, using natural or vampiric ways… And it's not like I'm the only, supposedly, 'hot' person in the state! Not even in this town... So since I said no, why are you still insisting?" I narrowed my eyes at her, a bit baffled.

"Because I like a little bit of challenge," she purred seductively, taking another step toward me. "And you're definitely one." She finally stopped a foot away from me.

"Do you even like girls?" I was incredulous and very close to laughing nervously.

"Does that even matter?" she shot back in a bored tone. I pretended to _genuinely_ think about it.

"Hmm… The way I see it, it probably matters for a vegetarian to like vegetables…"

"So naive of you. No matter the gender, it's the person that matters," she stated arrogantly, her eyes roaming over my body from head to toe.

"That would actually make a fantastic 'gay is great' slogan," I replied in a nerdy tone, pointing my finger at Katherine like she just had the greatest idea ever. She shot me a deadly glance as an answer.

"What about you?"

"What about me?" I frowned.

"Are you gay?" she asked me bluntly, mischief shining in her eyes. I froze for a second, trying my very best to keep my eyebrows from disappearing into my hairline.

"No," I lied shamelessly, trying to be as nonchalant as I could manage.

"Oh come on…" she purred, raising her finger up to touch my jaw. I moved my head back a little, looked at her finger, and then stared back at her in warning. She slowly pulled it away. "The way you discreetly scrutinize girls' bodies… The way you keep your eyes firmly on their eyes when they take off their clothes in the locker room…" she continued imperturbably with a knowing smile on her lips. Her words were making me panic furiously. She couldn't possibly know that about me. She was just in town for a week! I forbade myself from wondering how she could have even witnessed those reactions... and where.

"The way you look at her lips when she talks to you…" she almost whispered, her eyes suddenly devouring my own lips. The air grew hotter by the second and I couldn't help but look at her lips too. The sudden thought that she had snooped on Elena and I, however, quickly made me snap out of whatever this was.

"I don't know if I should laugh, or find it pathetic that you're obviously stalking me even more now than I initially thought you were…" I drawled, my voice coming out a little bit hoarse.

"I like to know my prey." A predatory smirk grew on her lips as she spoke. I stopped breathing at her choice of words. "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone…" she pursued, winking playfully at me.

"There's nothing to tell-"

"Don't make me kiss you to prove my point," she warned provocatively, cutting me off. I wrestled with my pride, forcing myself to disregard her provocation just in time. But I was trapped. If I said something to defend myself, she would kiss me, and no way in hell was I going to let that happen. On the other hand, if I didn't say anything, it would come back to admit that she was right about me.  
She was staring at me expectantly, obviously enjoying my dilemma.

"So that's why you think you have a shot with me? Because I'm supposedly gay?" I asked hesitantly, gauging her reaction. Since she didn't seem to make a move, I gained confidence.

"That's not exactly how it works…"

"I actually think I have many other arguments." She raised her chin, her entire being oozing cockiness.

"Really? Like what?" I asked haughtily, curling the corner of my lips upward.

"Well. I'm hot… sexy," she chuckled playfully but her eyes were burning holes in my skull. "I have a body to die for. I'm dangerous..." she continued with an intense look, power suddenly emanating from her. "Mysterious…" She leaned her head closer to mine, a seductive smile lingering on her lips.

"_And_ full of yourself. Not exactly the most attractive trait ever," I shot back in a sarcastic tone.

"Actually, I think you kind of like that part… Otherwise you would have slapped me already." She laughed lightly, mischief glowing in her eyes.

"Don't think I haven't thought about it. But I have grown really attached to my hand over the years…"

"Smart girl. So! Now that we've cleared the air, what do you say?" She slowly raised her hand to grab the strap of my bag and pulling on it slightly. "Are we going to wallow ourselves in depraved sex?"

"You really don't bother with preliminaries, do you?" I deadpanned, raising an eyebrow at her.

"It depends whether you like that or not. I can do magic with foreplay," she sing-songed with a sparklingly playful smile. I knew I shouldn't have, but I actually laughed at her comment.

"Can I go to school now?" I asked, mock annoyance in my voice.

"Sure!" She let go of my bag nonchalantly. "But if you don't want to waste your time with boring activities, I can think of thousands of other fun things we could do together…" she purred, her entire face radiating with mischief.

"Goodbye Katherine."


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N:** I'm really glad you guys enjoyed the last chapter! Thank you for favoriting, following and reviewing my story! Your comments inspire me to write the forthcoming chapters, so keep them coming... ;)

**Disclaimer:**_ I do not own _The Vampire Diaries_ or any of its characters. This is a work of fiction written for entertainment purposes, but the original characters and original storylines present in "My Paper Heart" are my own work. _

* * *

I spent the rest of the morning thinking about my encounter with Katherine. Safe to say, I was not paying attention in class. Now that she knew about me, or at least about a part of me, I realized I had to talk to my friends. I knew from experience that Katherine was capable of keeping secrets- but only those that she had an interest in. I really needed to tell them that I was gay before she did.

And I was not looking forward to it.

I went to the restroom after lunch break, and was about to go out when Elena suddenly came barging in.

"Elena?" I was really surprised to see her there, since she hadn't come with me earlier when I'd told her in the hallway I was making a detour to the ladies room before heading class.

She seemed nervous and began pushing open every restroom door, looking under each one in search of someone.

"Elena? What are you doing?" I asked slowly, very suspicious. Since she didn't answer me, and was still busy pushing doors, I finally felt the need to reassure her.

"Don't worry, we're alone."

She stopped and turned around, walking toward me with an upset expression on her face.

"Stefan told me that you asked them to stop protecting you," she informed me, her eyes worried and her brows furrowed. Her arms were crossed around her chest tightly and I could easily infer that she was angry at me.

"Elena…" I whispered gently, trying to soothe her.

"Have you lost your mind?" she demanded, coming toward me. "Are you trying to get yourself killed by Katherine?"

"Says the girl who lives in a house Katherine comes and goes from of whenever she wants…" I answered, trying to light up the mood. She glowered at me. "Would you rather see her hurt Stefan?" I asked in a resigned tone, knowing that bringing up Stefan was a low move. Sudden pain flashed over her features.

"Don't say that." She took a quick and angry step forward, placing herself a few inches away from me.

"I don't want Stefan or even Damon to be hurt, but I don't want anything to happen to you, either!" She looked at me intensely, despair gliding through her chocolate brown eyes. "How could you even think otherwise?" she added, hurt audible in her trembling voice. "I couldn't survive without you. You know that..." she whispered, water invading her beautiful doe eyes.

I couldn't handle Elena crying; it was breaking my heart utterly and completely. But this time, it was even worse because I knew exactly how she felt. I had witnessed her have near death experiences too many times, and I had even seen her die in front of my very eyes. My heart had stopped beating with hers at that precise moment, and I started breathing again only once she had awoken, alive, in the abandoned witch house after the ritual.

In the meanwhile, I had just been a brainless zombie, numb and completely oblivious to what was happening around me. She was my life preserver, my family, my everything. And I knew that even though she wasn't in love with me, she felt the same way about me.

All I wanted to do right now was to cup her cheek and wipe her tears away delicately with my thumb. But I couldn't, so I took her gently in my arms. She immediately put her arms around me and hugged me tightly, her hands clenching at my shirt. I tightened my grip in return and she nuzzled the side of her face against my neck. I closed my eyes, enjoying just for a second her perfume and her warmth. There were things about her that just always, instantly made my body relax.

"I'm going to be fine," I whispered softly, my voice raw with emotions. "I promise."

"You can't promise that," she murmured sadly.

"I can. I just did." I felt the corner of her lips curling slightly upward against my skin, and I knew I managed to get a smile out of her.

"You should let them protect you. Please," she pleaded anxiously, pulling slightly on the back of my shirt.

"I only dismissed them because I noticed Katherine was more aggressive when they were around. But don't worry. I'm extremely careful…" I explained in a smooth tone. "The hard things you feel on your back right now are my wrist stakes." I informed her jokingly. She chuckled a little against my neck. "And _you_ know that _I_ know how to use them efficiently. Plus, I have a bunch of badass friends who can help me if I'm in trouble!"

"You're in trouble already…"

"When exactly at least one of us is not in trouble?" I asked teasingly.

She laughed sadly at my statement.

"I'm not taking any risks, Elena. I'm fine. And I will be fine," I reassured her again.

"You better be," she mumbled through my hair, tightening her hug even more. The door suddenly flew open. Caroline appeared in the frame door, quickly followed by Bonnie.

"Aaaaw, are we having a group hug?" Caroline asked in a cute, corny tone. I let go of Elena before Caroline had a chance to put her arms around us.

"What's going on here?" Caroline added suddenly worried, finally noticing Elena's teary eyes.

"Nothing. Everything is fine," I said in a convincing tone, a smile on my lips. Caroline looked at me suspiciously, then Elena, then me again.

"Do I look like I'm stupid?" she said with furrowed brows.

"Are you OK Elena?" Bonnie insisted, concern in her voice.

"I'm fine. Really," Elena answered with a reassuring smile on her face. I knew she was forcing herself and gave her a quick thankful glance for that. But unfortunately, it didn't go unnoticed for Caroline.

"Is this about Katherine?" she asked hesitantly, piercing holes in my skull with her eyes. The ability Caroline had to jump between being a bobble head and being suddenly insightful in barely ten seconds was extremely annoying. "Because I keep thinking about it since you told us, and I'm sorry but it doesn't make any sense!" she blabbed, her pitch getting higher.

"I agree with Care," Bonnie stated firmly. "Why would she suddenly want to _sleep_ with you? That defies all logic."

And just like that, I snapped.

"Okay, I understand why every single one of you asked that question. I really do," I said half groaning, trying my best to contain myself. "But it's starting to be really insulting! Nobody thought that maybe, just _maybe_ it was because I could be desirable?" I stormed out of the restroom and walked quickly into the hallway. I was fully aware that it was my ego talking but still. It had to come out.

They spent the whole afternoon giving me apologetic looks from their seats and trying to explain themselves awkwardly. I just told them that I didn't know what got into me but that it wasn't their fault, and reassured them that everything was fine. But as soon as the classes were over and I stepped outside, I knew I needed to get a change of air.

I quickly made up my mind and started walking, heading for the Grill at a sustained pace. I had barely passed a block that I knew Katherine was around. She was pretty insistent today. I took a slow breath and kept myself from reacting to her presence.

"You know your house is in the opposite direction, right?" she asked playfully, showing up right next to me. I forced myself to jump a little and put a startled expression on my face.

"Damn it! Why vampires keep doing that all the time? It's beyond annoying!" I shot angrily, giving her an irritated side glance.

"It never gets old. Tell me you wouldn't do it if you were a vampire…" she said, mischief glinting in her eyes. I restrained myself to laugh but I wasn't able to hide the smile growing at the corner of my mouth.

"I knew it." She giggled and gave me a conniving wink. "So, where are we going?" she asked in an innocent tone, matching my tempo.

"_We_ are not going anywhere." I said strongly, shooting her an offended look.

"Aaaw…" she sighed, mock hurt in her voice and a pout on her lips. "I respected your choice to pick school over me, but since you're free now… I thought we could do some homework." She purred her sentences suggestively, leaning her shoulder closer to mine.

"I'm not that easy," I shot back, half laughing. She snapped her head to the side and looked at me seriously.

"I really don't see the problem with women embracing their sexuality. It always annoys me that a guy can be praised for being a ladies' man, but a woman is just called a slut for the same behavior," she stated in an irritating tone. "It's so archaic and sexist…" She rolled her eyes in exasperation.

I was really surprised by her reaction. Well, not exactly surprised since we all knew Katherine was completely _embracing _her sexuality, but she really seemed to care about the subject. I realized it was the first time I saw her being honest and serious about something else than threats or sex. So to speak.

I couldn't agree more with her point of view, but I couldn't possibly tell her that. It would just give her more ammunition to try to get in my pants.

"That's not what I meant…"

"Then what did you mean?" she asked smoothly, curiosity in her eyes.

"That I need more than '_I want to have sex with you'_ to actually sleep with you," I answered dryly. "Or anyone for that matter."

"Oh! You want me to buy you dinner first?" Her tone was playful and she was looking at me provocatively through her eyelashes. I returned her gaze with an annoyed one.

"Not what I meant either."

"Oh come on… You're really trying to make me believe that you're the kind of girl who needs _feelings_ to sleep with someone?" she shot back in a know it all tone.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I stopped dead in my tracks, feeling very offended. She gave me a cocky smirk and stared at me with amused eyes.

"It's a compliment, actually."

"You're dodging the question," I shot back harshly.

"Okay. Since you want to know…" she trailed off slowly- on purpose, of course. I rolled my eyes at her antics.

She turned slightly to position herself straight at me and looked at me with an intense gaze. "I have been stalking you for a week, and told you many times bluntly that I wanted to have sex with you… And you never blushed. Not even once," she said simply, titling slowly her head to the side. "I _outrageously_ flirt with you, invade your personal space, and undress you with my eyes and yet, it never made you nervous. You're not even fazed by my crude innuendos, and it never takes you more than a second to whip out a comeback," she pursued, stopping a few inches away from me and staring at me like she could see right through me.

"I just have a witty spirit…" I answered awkwardly. "And I'm really good at pretending." I flashed her a cheeky smirk.

"All of this body language is more than enough to let me know that you're very comfortable with your sexuality…" she purred, looking languidly at my lips before finding my eyes again.

"Supposing that's true, it doesn't mean that I'm all booty calls and one night stands," I pointed out in a sarcastic tone.

"If you know a romantic girl who doesn't run in the opposite direction when you ask her to sleep with you the first time you meet, you should give me her number…" she shot back playfully.

I kept my mouth shut because I knew she had a point. But even though I already knew she was very observant, it was beyond annoying to actually be her subject. I just settled for narrowing irritatingly my eyes at her.

"But if I needed more to convince me… I would just have to see you dance to be sure," she concluded with a knowing smile, insight sparkling in her eyes.

"What?" I asked baffled, shooting my eyebrows up. I was deadly sure I haven't danced this past week. I haven't even danced in months! The last time it happened was during the Decade high school dance, and I only got a chance to have a slow dance with Matt before everything went messy. And since Klaus was there, I was pretty sure Katherine wasn't. "What are you talking about? You never saw me dance…" I stated firmly, my brows knit in confusion. She nodded her head slightly and narrowed her eyes, pretending to go through her memories.

"Hmm… The bonfire," she whispered huskily. "I think pet wolf was the one who brought the vodka," she continued, looking at me with a satisfied grin on her lips. I was petrified. The party she was referring pretty precisely to had happened a year ago! She couldn't possibly know that! All kind of crazy thoughts stormed inside my head making me panicking until I finally found one rational reason to her presence that night.

"Were you snooping on Stefan?" I whispered hesitantly, an intense questioning look in my eyes.

"Maybe, maybe not…" she giggled lightly. She leaned her face closer, her nose now at 2 inches of mine. Her eyes roamed over my features before settling on my eyes. "Would you be jealous if I said yes?"

"No!" I shot offended, moving my head back slightly. "I would actually be relieved," I admitted, realizing it was true as I spoke. "It would look a lot more like you."

"That you know of…"

She was playing with me. She had to. I needed to keep myself for being dragged in her little mind game, and stop wondering if she had planned all of this for much more longer than any of us had assumed. The sudden movement of her arm made me snap out of my haze. She raised her hand up, and took delicately the end of a lock of my hair in her fingertips.

"Those moves you got hmmm…. devilishly sexy," she purred with a lustful smile, referring to that particular night. "You obviously had too many drinks and were completely uninhibited but it was more than just that… After a while, you just became free and careless… Completely oblivious to the party around you." There was something that looked like fascination in her eyes. "You were… purely _wild_. The way you swayed your body, the way you became so _carnal_… It was just like watching you have sex with an imaginary lover…" she breathed out lasciviously, curling her finger around the lock of my hair.

The air had become decidedly heavy around us. Her words made me grow hotter despite my effort not to, and the intimacy she forced on me made me completely forget that we were in the middle of a sidewalk. I needed to get the hell out of here before doing something I would regret for sure.

"You're right about me… on one thing." I reached for the lock of hair wrapped around her finger and pulled softly on it. She quickly glanced at my hand then back at me again, with a knowing smirk. She straightened her finger to loosen her grip and let go of my hair. "I don't need feelings to sleep with someone," I continued quietly. I locked my eyes on hers intensely and added firmly, "but I need to be attracted to more than just a body."

With those words, I started to walk backwards slowly, turning around only when I'd reached the Grill doors.


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N:** Oh my, I'm so sorry that it took me so long to update! I got hit by writer's block but your reviews always have a way of inspiring me to write and update faster... :) So thank you guys, for favoriting and following! And an even bigger thank you to those who give reviews!

Enjoy :)

**Disclaimer:**_ I do not own _The Vampire Diaries_ or any of its characters. This is a work of fiction written for entertainment purposes, but the original characters and original storylines present in "My Paper Heart" are my own work. _

* * *

I pushed the door of the Grill open and spotted the one I was looking for. While staring at his back, I suddenly realized how close we became lately.

For the last two years, we had been buddies... sort of. We began sharing respect and trust because of our history on the battle field. Enjoying our usual sparring matches on regular basis, but not much more than that. Maybe because we were both too proud to admit that we enjoyed each other's company. Maybe because our resemblance was much more than just a physical one. It was so odd for us that we hadn't been able to handle it other than by being on the defensive.

But Katherine's presence had changed that. Damon showed concern and had been very protective of me. It made me realize that I could count on him for something other than to just rip someone's heart out. I knew now that he was sensitive enough to me and my feelings to figure out that I was gay. And somehow, I was completely sure I could trust him with my secret.

He was also the only one I could really talk to about what was going on with Katherine. He was more pragmatic about it, and he didn't freak out every time the subject came. And I was very aware that, out of all of us, he was the one who knew her the best.

All of those things had changed my habits. Instead of calling Elena every time I was worried, pissed, or needed to take my mind off things, my first thought now was to call Damon.

Because he knew and understood things that she couldn't right now.

And the fact that I ran out of school and decided to look for him at the Grill to clear my head proved it even more.

He was seated by himself at the bar, probably enjoying his usual bourbon. The sight caused a memory of Alaric to flash through my mind. I couldn't handle the sadness of it, so I settled for sitting at one of the booths.

"Hi there," I said quietly into space. I knew he had felt me as soon as I pushed the door open. Probably even before. He put his drink down on the bar and turned his head hesitantly toward me, a raised eyebrow on his face.

"Care to join me?" I asked softly without looking at him, sliding into the booth seat.

While taking off my jacket, I looked up at him discreetly. He was crossing the dining room with two glasses in his hands. He stopped for a few seconds at the end of the table to give me his usual sarcastic smirk.

"You're alive! How unbelievable is that?" he threw at me in a mock cheerful tone, while sitting in front of me. I laughed at his sarcasm.

"No incident to report so far…" I shot back with humorously.

"Great. But that still doesn't mean it's a good idea," he said sternly with a wrinkled eyebrow.

"Never said it was…"

"Well… I guess it's enough good news to celebrate." He slid one of the glasses toward me across the table.

"I'm not going to drink that," I declared, looking at the bourdon inside the glass and up to Damon. He raised one of his eyebrows and gave me a knowing smirk.

"It's the middle of the afternoon, Damon!"

"I guess we'll have to order you a coke then…" he sighed dramatically, raising two fingers to call the waiter. We waited silently until the boy took my order and brought my drink back to me. I took a sip of my soda, and put it down carefully.

"She knows about me…" I almost whispered, my eyes locked on my glass. I hesitantly risked a glance up at Damon and saw that he was staring at me with a mixture of surprise and expectancy. I almost let it slip that I was talking about the gay part, not the other one but realized just in time that he wasn't supposed to know about _the other one. _And I hated it. I hated being so good at keeping things from the people I cared about. I hated that now that he knew about one of my secrets, I couldn't talk freely about everything with him. But even if I wanted to, I couldn't _possibly._ So I swallowed my frustration and specified to him what I meant.

"She knows I'm gay. And even though she decided to keep it a secret…" I trailed off in a tired voice.

"You better tell everyone before she does," he continued for me.

"Yes…" I said poorly, with distress in my eyes.

"Come on. I don't know what you're afraid of," he started with a gentle smile. "I'm sure they're going to be perfectly fine with it! The way I see it, you will even become Blondie's next project…" he continued with an amused grin at the corner of his mouth. I giggled at his comment about Caroline, knowing that it was definitely something that she could do.

"Experience taught me that you can never be completely sure, Damon…" I said quietly, playing unconsciously with the edge of my glass. "But it's not just that. How do you think they're going to react when they will realize that I lied to them for the past two years?"

"I would not want to be in your shoes, right now." Horror was shining in his eyes.

"Thanks for the pep talk," I shot back dryly.

"Don't worry!" he exclaimed in an exaggerated reassuring tone, raising the arm holding his glass around emphatically. "There will be shock, a little bit of anger, maybe some tears, and then you will all be back in the world of rainbows and lollipops in no time."

"I hope you're right but unfortunately for me, it's going to take longer than just the time to say it…" I replied with an annoyed look.

"Do you want me to be there when you tell them?" he asked, suddenly serious.

"Thanks…" I gave him a grateful smile. "But no. The last thing I need is for them to find out you knew before they did."

"Good point," he answered awkwardly. We both got lost in our thoughts for a couple of minutes... until I remembered something.

"What was that you said earlier?" I questioned suspiciously.

"You're going to have to be more specific…" He narrowed his eyes at me.

"The look you gave me about my refusal to drink bourbon," I specified sternly. He raised one of his eyebrows and gave me a knowing smirk. "Yes, that one exactly."

"I already saw you drink, you know…" he dodged smoothly, with a grin at the corner of his lips.

"Yes. Like pretty much everyone else! You're acting like I'm an alcoholic in denial!" I exclaimed, irritated. He laughed at my accusation.

"You're not. But we both know you could have drunk it in one gulp without choking. Afternoon or not…" he said in a know-it-all tone. I shot daggers at him with my eyes.

"And what is that supposed to mean?"

"Come on, sweetie… You really thought you could hide that you're a party girl from me?" he answered suggestively while waving his eyebrows at me. I instantly noticed the name he called me. It was not completely out of character of him to use this word, but it was the first time he used it with me. I decided to ignore it and to push it in the back of my mind. I was too upset right now to care.

"I'm a party girl? How could you possibly think that?" I asked, pinning my lower arms on the table in exasperation.

"Well, the most obvious will be that you would have to be blind to not notice it at that bonfire party… You turned a lot of boys horny on that night," he stated with piercing eyes and an amused smile. I let my forehead fall onto the table in despair.

"That night is never going to stop haunting me, is it?" I growled angrily. "I just needed to lash out and forget about everything on that night, Damon, that's all…" I mumbled quietly through my hands now covering my face, straitening myself up on my elbows.

"I believe you. But I actually think that the bonfire's Maya is the true raw version of you…" He pulled my hands away gently to look into my eyes.

"Which is a party girl, of course…"

"Well, not only, but yes," he answered with a cocky smirk. "Your way of handling drunk horny guys is pretty impressive, and shows you have a lot of practice. And you damn know to hold your booze! Not exactly the puking humiliating kind of girl, are you? Not to mention your remarkable dance skills…" he trailed off, waving his eyebrows and leaning closer to me. "So yep! Party girl." I looked at him intensely for a few seconds.

"I'm not that girl anymore, Damon…" I said tiredly, with a sad look in my eyes.

"You should," he shot back instantly, earnest in his voice. "It's not hard to figure out you buried her with your parents, but you should let her come back to life… Because I never saw you that happy and free other than during that night," he continued softly. I raised my chin quickly, emotions invading my eyes and finally gave him a poor smile.

"Plus!" he started in a sudden joyful tone, straitening himself up. "You're so damn sexy when you run wild…" he flashed a suggestive smirk at me.

And just like that, my irritation came back full blast. I rolled my eyes dramatically.

"Ugh! Is that a vampire thing? Analyzing people's behavior to know specifically if they're wild or good in the sack?" I drawled, wrinkling my brows in annoyance.

"Only the ones we're interested in," he shot back playfully. Again, I couldn't help but wonder what he meant exactly by "_interested in_" but kept my mouth shut about it. "Why? What did the bitch say?" he asked, amused. It was irritating that he instantly knew I was referring to Katherine.

"Nothing!" I said firmly. He laughed a little at my reaction but didn't push any further. A few minutes passed by before I found the strength to ask him what I had in mind.

"I know what happened between you and Katherine," I started hesitantly. "You and Stefan painted us a pretty precise and scary portrait of her, and I had been able to witness it the past two years… But there's something I don't understand," I added, my brows knit in confusion. "I'm aware that I hadn't known you for very long and that you were different… younger at that time, but it's really hard to believe that you could fall so hard for the monster you had portrayed. Both of you…" I held my breath, unsure of his reaction.

The expression on his face was painful to watch. I knew he hated remembering that period and gave him a contrite look. He stayed quiet for what seemed like hours to me.

"She had a couple of good sides too, I guess…" His voice came out a little raw. I gave him an encouraging smile.

"There were those moments when we were going for a walk in the country… She was asking about touchy subjects and listened with concern. She always tried to soothe my wounds like she actually cared," he related hesitantly, a sad small smile on his lips. He seemed to be immersed in his own memories for a while so I kept quiet and let him talk.

"She was adventurous… in a good way. And her smile and laugh were lighting up the room every time she walked in," he said with a real smile this time.

"She was distinguished- and breathtaking, for sure. Amazing in bed too," he added with a cocky smirk on his lips. "I sometimes believe that she did care about us both, but the truth is…" he trailed off, with an intense look in his eyes. "I don't think she ever really gave us a chance to get to know the real her…" Hurt flashed in his eyes for a second.

"You think there's something more beneath the cold-hearted bitchy surface?" I murmured softly, my voice a little hoarse.

"I'm sure there is… Why? Do you want to find out?" He scrutinized me with narrowed eyes.

"Never said that." I slightly lifted my gaze to meet his eyes, holding the stare.

"Good. Because I never said there will be something nice to find there," he pointed out in a warning tone.

"Thanks for answering…" I gave him a meaningful smile but quickly finished my soda before he could push it further and then put my jacket on. "Will you give me a ride home?"

"Sorry. I'm not done yet," he declared sarcastically, stirring the bourbon in his hand to illustrate his comment.

"Okay. Well, see you later then…" I said with a conniving smile on my lips. He winked at me as an answer.


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N**: Just a quick note to say a big thank you to those of you who knew that I had been in the hospital for a couple of days and sent me kind and adorable messages! I'm okay, now. In pain, but okay. lol

Anyway, I love you guys for favoriting, following and most importantly reviewing this story! Are you ready for some different point of views this time? Happy reading!

**Disclaimer**:_ I do not own _The Vampire Diaries_ or any of its characters. This is a work of fiction written for entertainment purposes, but the original characters and original storylines present in "My Paper Heart" are my own work. _

* * *

**DAMON'S POV**

I was on my second bourbon since Maya left. I wouldn't admit it out loud to anyone, but I was actually worried about her. Sure, the girl was tough- and _everything_ but defenseless. But that was pretty much like anyone else in our little gang.

The difference with Maya was that she was emotionally tough, too. The only moments you could witness some of her emotions were when she was with Elena. Maya usually wasn't able to keep her defenses up when it came to her. And I couldn't really blame her for that. Elena had that effect on people, especially on the most guarded ones. I would know.

But even though Elena seemed to be her only weakness, I knew better than that. Her thick walls, brave face and witty comments were the defenses she built up to fight against life. Probably even before she lost her parents. But I knew that underneath all of her tough act was a big, vulnerable, sensitive heart. And I was afraid that Katherine would crush it.

I snapped suddenly out my thoughts. _Speak of the devil._

Katherine pushed the door open and walked toward the bar, but I didn't acknowledge her presence. Until she put a hand on the back of the barstool next to me.

"This seat is taken," I drawled, not bothering to look at her while sipping on my drink. She stopped for a second, then deliberately sat down, a provocative look on her face. I kept my eyes on the back of the bar but clenched my jaw tightly. She clicked her fingers at the waiter and ordered herself a drink like everyone was at Miss Katherine's service. The woman had been there for barely two minutes, and I already wanted to rip her throat out.

"Ease up, Damon," she said smoothly. "I'm only here to enjoy a nice drink. No reason to not be civilized."

I took another sip of my bourbon, purposely ignoring her.

"How is your foot, by the way?" she suddenly asked in a light tone, obviously enjoying herself. I groaned through my teeth.

"Why are you still here, Katherine?" I finally gave her a harsh look that had been coming to her all night.

"I have some… interests keeping me in town," she dodged, taking a sip of her scotch gracefully.

"Is that _how_ you call it?"

"Is that the moment when you put on your shining armor to defend your girlfriend?" she mimicked me, but with a clearly amused undertone in her voice. I narrowed my eyes and shot her an angry look.

"She's not my girlfriend."

"Oh Damon… I can't believe you're still going after girls who are not available. I thought you would have learned your lesson by now…" she patronized in a soft tone.

"Don't flatter yourself. She's not into you," I shot back dryly, with a cruel smirk at the corner of my lips.

"I wasn't talking about me…" she trailed off suggestively, mystery shining in her eyes. "But available or not, you do realize she's gay, right?"

"So much for the secret…" I raised the glass to my mouth, a knowing grin on my lips. She narrowed her eyes slightly at me.

"Hmm… so she talks about me," she deduced, a satisfied smile plastered on her face.

"Of course she talks about you. You're making her life miserable! And since we're _friends_, she tells me everything," I shot back cockily.

"If you say so…" she trailed off suggestively, which, coupled with her previous comment, made me extremely suspicious.

She was so good at those little mind games, but I wasn't going to fall for it right now.

"Stay away from Maya, Katherine. If you touch just a single hair on her head, I will rip your heart out!" I growled in a warning tone, glaring at her threateningly.

"So many threats upon me…" she said playfully, waving her fingers for emphasis. "You should give the girl more credit, you know. She's tough," she stated with an amused smile on her lips. "I've been outrageously flirting with her for a week now and she still hasn't surrendered to my sexiness. It took you barely two days..."

"And we all know how much you love breaking your toys…" I shot back dryly, with a fake grin plastered on my face.

"Aaaw, are we jealous?" Despite her impish tone, I could tell from her cold stare that I had hit a weak spot, and I fully intended to enjoy it.

"I wasn't talking about me exclusively… Stefan and Mason are the only ones I can think of right now, but I'm sure there's more," I answered, my voice dripping with sarcasm. Her smile dropped instantly and her features hardened.

"Believe it or not, Damon, but I'm serious about this." She drank down the rest of her scotch in one gulp and slid off the barstool elegantly. Then, she leaned closer to my ear.

"Besides, you should be flattered… since she looks exactly like you," she purred mischievously, trailing her finger languidly along my shoulder before making her way out of the Grill. I kept myself from breaking my glass between my fingers. Damn, this woman knew how to push all of my buttons.

* * *

**MAYA'S POV**

I hadn't see Katherine since after I left Damon at the Grill. Not even the entire next day. I highly doubted that the reason I gave her for not sleeping with her had gotten the best out of her determination. So not stalking me was really unusual of her, considering her behavior since she had come back in town.

The couple of times it happened before- thanks to Caroline, or Stefan and Damon- I had been beyond relieved to avoid her. But I realized that I didn't feel reliefwhen I noticed her absence this time. The fact that I was regularly surprised that she wasn't showing up through the day eventually mortified me. I was forced to admit to myself that, maybe, just _maybe_, I missed her a little bit.

But her absence had actually been a good thing. I had been able to focus and spend the afternoon grocery shopping for our girls' night with Elena, Caroline and Bonnie. The plan was to meet at Elena's house and wallow ourselves in junk food while babbling about everything and nothing.

They were still walking on eggshells with me because of my outburst the previous day in the restrooms, so none of them brought the Katherine subject up and I was grateful for that. We actually had a lot of fun. Laughing, chatting about foolish things, playing around and eating way too much. I had been aware all night that it could actually had been the perfect opportunity for me to announce them that I was gay, but there was one thing I quickly learned when I moved in Mystic Falls. Always enjoy the little nice moments to the fullest when you possibly can, because there will always be dramas coming around the corner. So I decided to enjoy the night and wait a little longer before dropping the bomb on them.

I went back to my house at 2am after Caroline imposed a group hug upon us. I dragged myself upstairs and got prepared to go to bed. When I slid myself under the covers, I finally admitted to myself that I had totally chickened out with the girls earlier. I should have told them. But I didn't want to ruin it since we were actually having a really fun night, and that was something that hadn't happened to any of us for way too long. I promised to myself that I would tell them the very next day. While replaying the evening in my head, I drifted off to sleep with a smile on my lips.

* * *

**KATHERINE'S POV**

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Lucy asked me. I could see the judgment in her eyes, and it annoyed me to say the least.

"I'm always sure of what I want, Bennett… now, light your candles and work your magic," I ordered her, waving my fingers boringly.

"And what I am looking for, exactly?"

"Anything."

"I will need you to be more specific than that, Kat…" she insisted, a little amused smile on her lips.

"Fine!" I rolled my eyes in mock annoyance. "Look for anything out of the ordinary. If she's supernatural, find out what kind she is… And if there's a spell cast upon her."

"Anything else?" she asked, raising a sarcastic eyebrow at me. I shot her a warning side glance.

"Okay. But it will take time," she informed me in a resigned tone. She sat down on the floor, surrounded by dozens of candles and closed her eyes. She chanted in her gibberish for what seemed hours and I was starting to pace impatiently, drumming my fingers against my arm.

She finally stopped and opened her eyes swiftly.

"So?" I questioned eagerly.

"It's not working…"

"What do you mean it's not working? Don't tell me you've lost your powers, because then, you will no longer be of use to me…" I drawled in a threatening tone.

"No, it's nothing like that," she started to explain. She seemed to be really baffled about what happened, since she didn't even notice my intimidation. "It's… I don't know. Like I can't get inside her head," she almost whispered with a deep puzzled look in her eyes.

"Then keep trying!" I commanded, a deadly serious expression on my face. She gave me an annoyed but meaningful glance.

"Who is this girl?" she suddenly asked, her voice full of curiosity.

"None of your business. What _is_ your business on the other hand is getting inside her head, so _keep trying__,_" I warned icily, burning holes into her skull.

"I don't think it's going to change anything," she said carefully. "I already tried several times- and failed every time."

"Stop thinking and try again. And this time, you better put all of your powers in it…" She held my gaze for a couple of seconds before finally surrendering.

I clenched my jaw with impatience as she closed her eyes again.


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N**: Sorry for the late update guys, but I had a really bad week. The pain is killing me... :( But I've been able to cook you something up anyway! So, are you ready for a little cray cray chapter?

Thank you all for reviewing, favoriting and following! Please, leave a review (:

**Disclaimer**:_ I do not own _The Vampire Diaries_ or any of its characters. This is a work of fiction written for entertainment purposes, but the original characters and original storylines present in "My Paper Heart" are my own work. _

* * *

Something was trying to stir me out of my sleep. I could feel a repeatedly unpleasant tingling at the back of my head. Suddenly I could make it out clearly. Someone was attacking me by throwing themself toward my bed. My eyes shot open urgently and I pined myself up against the headboard in the moment of a heartbeat. I had grabbed the stake hidden under my pillow instinctively, and the only parts of my body still touching the mattress were my tiptoes. I was ready to fight- and all of my senses were heightened. I was already searching the darkness frantically for my attacker before I realized that I couldn't see anything. I was feeling a presence, but couldn't place a body. There was no unusual scent, and the house was deadly silent. Something was wrong. Horribly wrong.

Still scanning my bedroom intensely, I slowly and carefully reached for my bedpost lamp, already knowing that I wouldn't see more that I already had. And as I expected, the room was empty. Then, suddenly, I felt it again. It was coming toward me, but I still couldn't see anything. It wasn't making any sense. The feeling was terrifying. I jumped out of bed dexterously, grabbed my phone swiftly and slammed the door open to rush precipitately into the hallway. I bumped my shoulder hard into the banister, but I couldn't have cared less. I dialed Damon's number urgently.

"It's 4am, Maya. You better be calling me for a booty call," Damon said in a sleepy voice.

"Damon, help me! I don't know what it is… It's attacking me!" I shouted, giving in to panic. I turned my head suddenly and my eyes widened in horror. It was still after me!

"Damon, HELP ME!" I screamed while hurtling down the stairs. I missed a few steps and pushed on the wall to keep myself from falling down, causing my phone to crash onto the floor. I ran like hell until I reached the front door and turned around abruptly, looking frenetically in every direction. My instincts were screaming at me to keep running, but I couldn't help but try to spot my assailant. Something, anything that could help me to fight it. I felt a wave coming to my left and instinctively staked through the air with incredible force. It was pointless. I was fighting the air itself. My breathing was erratic. All I could hear was my heart drumming loudly in my ears. I could feel _it _on my skin. I could feel it trying to invade my head and my chest. I rubbed my arms and my torso in a frenzy, desperately attempting to get rid of it. The feeling was both terrorizing and nauseating. It felt like dirty hands were running all over me.

_It_ kept pushing and pushing, crushing my insides from the outside until I thought I was going to choke to death. Suddenly, something switched on inside me that turned my fear into rage. I wasn't going to die without a fight. I knew now it was pointless to fight physically… so I roared furiously with all the air inside my lungs. I roared with my gut out of pure rage. I was deafening myself with my wild, raw, powerful scream, and my throat was hurting like hell- but it didn't matter. I was irradiating all the strength I had left to desperately try to force my invisible attacker to retreat.

And suddenly everything stopped. The presence had disappeared. My body was free again. I took a deep and urgent breath. My senses were still wildly heightened, anticipating a new assault. I was in shock. My eyes were trying to pop out of my head and my breathing was wheezing through my painful throat. I felt air moving behind my back and swiftly turned around, my tensed arm raised to stake down mercilessly. I suddenly felt a real, physical hand encircle my wrist forcefully. The situation was beyond confusing for me. I was no longer able to think rationally.

"Maya!" a voice called out loudly. "Maya, it's me! It's Damon…" the voice said again strongly, but in a reassuring tone. I finally came slowly out from my trance-like state. I could now clearly see two icy blue eyes staring at me with an incredible intensity.

"Damon…?" I murmured hesitantly, the sound barely coming out of my broken voice.

"Yes. It's okay, sweetie…" he whispered softly while loosening his hold on my wrist. "You're fine now. Everything's fine," he continued in a soothing tone, carefully taking the stake out of my iron grip. From the way he was looking at me, I could tell I was scaring him to death. I was obviously in very bad shape.

"Thank you," I breathed out quietly, my voice breaking at each word. I was so happy, relieved, and grateful to see him right in front of me that I would have cried if I had had the energy. He slightly and cautiously opened his arms toward me, and I immediately threw myself onto his chest, fisting his shirt with both hands like I was hanging for dear life. He put a strong arm around my lower back to keep me standing and stroked my back and my hair tenderly, whispering reassuring words to relax my shaking body.

Somewhere in the back of my head, I knew I looked like a little girl that needed her father to calm her down after a terrifying nightmare. But I didn't care. I was only focusing on his calm breathing, his steady, slow heartbeat and his warmth. I was trying to get my sanity back. Right now, the only place I could possibly feel safe was in his arms.

I didn't know how long we stayed like that. I had completely lost track of time. But I assumed it had probably been awhile when Damon spoke again.

"What do you say about going to sit on the couch, and you can tell me what happened?" he whispered softly, cupping the back of my neck with his hand to try to get a look at me. I weakly shook my head against his chest as an answer.

"Okay… we're going to stay a little longer like that, then." He kissed the top of my head caringly before resting his chin on it. After a few minutes, the door suddenly opened. I flinched violently between Damon's arms. He tightened his hold around me in response.

"It's okay. It's just Bonnie…" he reassured me, giving me a warm smile.

"What's going on here?" Bonnie asked, alarm in her voice, her eyes opened wildly in shock. She looked at me with intense worry. "Maya, are you OK?" She stepped closer to touch my arm cautiously. I gave her a weak nod.

"How… did you know?" I asked her in a hoarse voice.

"I called her," Damon answered.

"What happened to your voice?" Bonnie asked anxiously, her eyebrows furrowed.

"It's because she… screamed," Damon explained for me. He clenched his jaw tightly while his face turned white at the memory. A shiver ran down my spine at the reminder. He looked down at me with a forced smile on his lips, circling his hand a little on my back. I glanced up at him, a silent question in my eyes.

"You… think it was… a witch thing?" My throat was still really painful, making it hard to speak- but I needed to talk with them to appease my state of shock.

"I have no idea, Maya, since you didn't tell us what happened yet," he said matter-of-factly. "But the only thing I got from your phone call was that you didn't know what _it_ was, so…" he trailed off with raised eyebrows. "I figured if it was a vampire or a werewolf, you would have known! The only options left were witch or ghost, but Bonnie was closer." He pointed this out jokingly, obviously trying to light up the mood. I turned my head slowly to look at Bonnie with a desperate, yet hopeful stare.

"Can you… tell if it was a… witch attack?" She gave me a poor look.

"No, I can't. The only things I can do are see if I can still feel powers coming from a witch, and to check if anything had been bewitched in the house…" she explained softly, with an apologetic smile on her face.

"Please… do that," I pleaded her in a scratchy voice, nodding my head urgently.

"Okay. Bonnie is going to do her witchy thing, but you have to tell us the whole story," Damon said seriously.

"I will…" I affirmed, eventually loosening my grip on his shirt. "But… first… I need to shower." I folded my arms tightly around my chest. Damon and Bonnie exchanged a quick, meaningful glance.

"Bonnie is going to check the entire place, and I will be right outside the bathroom door if you need anything… okay?" Damon said softly. I nodded and gave them both a grateful smile. I reluctantly stepped away from Damon and headed upstairs with weak legs. Damon was hot on my heels.

The scalding water running down my skin was more than welcomed. I closed my eyes and focused on the warmth slowly relaxing my body. I grabbed the bath puff and poured some soap on it. I started to scrub my entire body. The more I scrubbed, the more frantic my moves became. I was trying desperately to make the invading feeling I had experienced earlier go away. After washing myself five times, my skin was red and burning- but I was finally feeling decent again. I let out a heavy sigh and turned the shower off.

* * *

**KATHERINE'S POV**

This thing was taking _way_ too long for my patience. I laid on the floor right outside the circle of candles, propping myself up on one of my elbows. I was scrutinizing Lucy's reactions. Her nose had started bleeding. At least she was putting real effort into it this time. From her furrowed brows, her drawn face and her tensed muscles, I could easily guess that something was giving her a hard time.

Suddenly, her head moved slightly then fell backwards, efficiently cutting her chanting. It looked like someone had punched her violently in the face. She fell flat on her back, onto the ground. I sped to kneel next to her head. _Oh perfect_. She had passed out.

"Lucy!" I called, patting her cheek to wake her up. "Lucy!" I tried again more forcefully. Her eyes were still closed, and her heartbeat was very slow. I slapped her. No response. I sighed in exasperation. I reluctantly sat on the floor, leaning my back against the wall next to her.

After what seemed like an eternity, she finally opened her eyes. She fluttered her lashes a couple of times and looked around in confusion before her eyes landed on me. She gave me a quizzical stare.

"You passed out," I informed her in a detached tone. "It sure took you long enough to come back among the living," I stated in annoyance, watching while she was straightening herself to sit. "What happened?"

"It didn't work," she answered simply.

"I had figured that out already," I deadpanned, negligently holding her out a tissue.

"It was like… she pushed me back," she started with a puzzled look, while wiping the blood under her nose. "Like, no matter how hard I tried, my powers were bouncing off her body and right back at me…" She looked me straight in the eye and the disbelief was evident.

"Why don't you seem to be surprised at all?" she asked suspiciously. I just stared at her superiorly, a knowing smirk on my lips. "How does she do that?" she whispered, narrowing her eyes at me. I stood up and brushed my pants carelessly.

"Actually, I was counting on you to tell me that." I looked down at her with one cocky, raised eyebrow.

"I have no idea," she admitted bluntly.

"Could it be a witchy thing?"

"No. Witches feel each other's powers. It's an exchange, not an obstacle. It's the first time in my entire life I experienced something like that," she said, baffled. "And I have never heard of someone who could be… immune to magic…"

"Well, you better find out. Because I still have an itching desire to rip your head off for the little trick you played on me with the moonstone…"

I started to walk to leave this dirty, abandoned house, but turned my head around to look at her before disappearing. My voice was harsh. Deadly.

"Don't disappoint me." With one final warning, I fled the room. "And be discreet about it!"


End file.
